The 19th Passing out Ceremony of rescuers held at Emergency Services Academy

Lahore: The 19^th Passing out Ceremony of rescuers from different districts of Punjab was held at Emergency Services Academy here on Saturday. These rescuers have been trained to strengthen Rescue 1122 Service in Bahawalpur; Bhakkar, Derea Ghazi Khan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Hafizabad, Jhang, Khanewal, Khushab, Lahore, Mandi Bahuddin, Mianwali, Multan, Layyah, Rahim Yar Khan, Rajanpur, Rawalpindi, Attock, Nankana Saheb, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Sialkot and Murree.

The ceremony was attended by Member Scottish Parliament Mr. Belle Hanzala Malik; Additional Secretary Home Asad Ullah Faiz, Director General, Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122), Brig. (r) Dr. Arshad Zia and other dignitaries from different walks of life.

In welcoming address, the Director General, Emergency Services Academy (Rescue 1122) Brig. (r) Amir Hamza congratulated rescuers on completion of their training and thanked Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif for expansion of the Service to all Districts of Punjab and now at Tehsil level. He further thanked Scottish Parliamentarian Belle Hanzala Malik for extending his sincere cooperation for establishment of modern Fire Service in Pakistan.

Speaking on this occasion, Director General, Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) Brig. (r) Dr. Arshad Zia said that the Service is successful only because of hectic efforts and training of rescuers on modern lines. He wished heartiest congratulation for Director General, Emergency Services Academy Brig. Amir Hamza and his commitment and dedication towards bringing innovation in training. He said that Rescue 1122 has established its goodwill just because of excellence through professionalism. He revealed that he was fully aware with the problems of the rescuers and pledged to resolve them through early enforcement of Service Structure and of making permanent to contractual employees.

Speaking on the ceremony, the Scottish Parliamentarian Belle Hanzala Malik said that Rescuers were the brave sons of soil, who put their lives in danger to save others’ lives. He asserted that he himself witnessed excellent professionalism during floods in Punjab especially in southern belt in 2010, 2014 and 2015. He also expressed his deep pleasure over successful performance/ training and congratulated Director General Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) Brig. (R) Dr. Arshad Zia and Director General Brig. (R) Amir Hamza along with team for their devotion and continuous struggle towards ensuring a Safer Pakistan. Furthermore, he said that historically, I had said that Rescue 1122 was second Service after Armed forces but today, I officially announce that Rescue 1122 is no longer second organization after Armed forces but now it is equal  to Armed Forces in Pakistan. He appreciated the continuous support of Chief Minister Punjab Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif for Rescue 1122 as Service continuous to expand. He said this credit goes to Punjab Govt that emergency service has been expanded in all over the Punjab and now the Service has been launched at tehsil level.

The passed out cadets demonstrated their professional skills of emergency management during mock exercises of deep well rescue, water rescue, firefighting, urban search and rescue, rescue from confined spaces during smoke, rescue from height and medical emergency management. These Cadets have been given specialized medical, rescue, firefighting and height rescue training in first phase and specialized training courses were arranged for them in the fields of Communication, Medical First Responder (MFR), Collapsed Structure Search and Rescue (CSSR), Communication, Incident Command System and Community Safety Training in 2^nd phase of training.