217 Rescuers from Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan & Punjab passed out

Lahore : The Passing out Ceremony of 217 Rescuers from Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan & Punjab was held at Emergency Services Academy here on Monday. A special advisor to Chief Minister Punjab, Rana Maqbool Ahmad &  Ahmad Latif, Managing Director SNGPL were the Chief Guest while Dr. Heli Uusikyla, Head of UN-OCHA Pakistan was the Guest of Honour.

The ceremony was attended by the Director General Punjab Emergency Service, Brig. (R) Arshad Zia, Director General Emergency Services Academy, Brig. (R) Amir Hamza, Director General Civil Defence & Rescue 1122 Zulfiqar Ali, Director General Rescue 1122 Dr. Sher Aziz and Registrar Emergency Services Academy Dr. Muhammad Farhan Khalid, and large number of rescuers, their parents and family friends.

As per details, some 53 Rescuers from Punjab, 130 from Gilgit Baltistan and 34 Rescuers of Azad Jammu & Kashmir have successfully completed their professional training organized at Emergency Services Academy.

In welcoming address, the Director General Emergency Services Academy (Rescue 1122) Brig. (R) Amir Hamza congratulated the rescuers on completion of their training and thanked Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif for his all-out support. He revealed that owing to professional training, the performance of Rescue 1122 speaks for itself. He further congratulated the families and parents of the rescuers by saying they should take pride that their scions have joined this lifesaving Service.

Speaking on the ceremony, Mr. Rana Maqbool Ahmad said that Rescuers were the brave sons of soil, who put their lives in danger to save the lives of others. He asserted that he himself witnessed excellent professionalism by rescuers during accidents, floods and other disasters. He also expressed his deep gratitude over successful completion of training and congratulated Director General Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) Brig. (R) Dr. Arshad Zia and Director General Brig. (R) Amir Hamza alongwith their team for devotion and continuous struggle towards ensuring a Safer Pakistan. He said that under the dynamic leadership of Premier of the country Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and the Chief Minister Punjab, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, the country is moving towards a Safer Pakistan. He said that Chief Minister Punjab has recently approved the project of establishment of Urban Search & Rescue Teams in all Divisions of Punjab. Two specialized teams in Lahore & Rawalpindi would be operational before the end of this year. He further said that this credit goes to Punjab Govt. that Emergency Service has been expanded to all over Punjab including Tehsils. He further assured the rescuers of the Punjab that their Service Rules would be approved at earliest and other issues including emergency allowances and incentives would also be resolved at priority.

On this occasion, Brig. (r) Dr. Arshad Zia also thanked the special advisor to the Chief Minister Punjab, Mr. Rana Maqbool Ahmad, Dr. Heli Uusikyla, Head of UN-OCHA Pakistan, DG AJK Mr. Zulfiqar Ali, DG Rescue 1122 GB Dr. Sher Aziz, Rescuers, their families and relatives. He wished heartiest congratulations for Director General, Emergency Services Academy Brig. Amir Hamza and his commitment and dedication towards bringing innovation in the conduct of training.

Earlier, the passing 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.