LAHORE:Punjab Emergency Service Department (PESD) Secretary Dr Rizwan Naseer on Friday marked 18th anniversary of Rescue 1122 Emergency Service by cutting a cake at the 11th National Rescue Challenge at the Emergency Services Academy.
The divisional teams from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, MERC Baluchistan, university and warden teams participated in the three days National Rescue Challenge.
The secretary congratulated all rescuers on successful completion of 18 years of service to humanity. He said it gave him immense pleasure that the Service was started from Lahore and today teams from all provinces were participating in this professional competition to enhance emergency preparedness.
He appreciated the governments of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan for establishing Emergency Rescue Services in their provinces to provide the right to professional emergency care to the helpless victims of emergencies.
He appreciated the teams and asked them to show the same spirit and passion while dealing with emergencies in their respective districts and provinces.
Dr Rizwan congratulated Gujranwala Team for winning the 11th National Rescue Challenge (NRC), Mianwali Team of Sargodha Division as Runner up and winners of different individual events.
He said that it was a healthy and professional skills competition in its nature to enhance the capacity, skills and knowledge of emergency personnel. He extended his appreciation to organizers, participants and institutions who showed keen interest and prepared their teams to take part in this challenge.
He said that the Rescue Service had rescued over 11.5 million helpless victims of emergencies & disasters and maintained the standards of this emergency service and gained the respect in the community with hard work, commitment and dedication.
First modern fire service had saved losses worth over Rs. 586 billion by improving emergency response and professional fire-fighting in over 197,000 fire incidents. Motorbikes Rescue Service provided rescue to over 1.1 million emergencies with an average response time of four minutes and expansion of MRS to all districts of Punjab.
Rescue 1122 had shifted over 24,000 Corona patients and carried out 4194 dignified Corona Burials. Rescue 1122 established Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) in all union councils of Punjab and trained over 23,000 emergency personnel from all provinces of Pakistan at the Emergency Services Academy. Rescue 1122 also rescued over 80,000 during floods and 127,000 transported in flood 2022.
A total of 16 teams from all over Pakistan including Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan, Sialkot wardens, University of Engineering & Technology (UET) and the University of Lahore participated in the 11th Rescue challenge.
The 11th National Rescue Challenge, 2022 included seven events and the evaluation of skills was carried out as per international standards. The Trauma & Medical Challenge was won by Jhelum Rescue Team from Rawalpindi Division, Fire Fit Challenge was won by Gujranwala Division, Water Rescue was won by Peshawar Division KP, Swimming was won by Gujranwala Division, Deep Well Rescue was won by Bahawalpur & Mianwali and Height Rescue Challenges won by Mianwali.
Overall 11th National Rescue Challenge was won by Gujranwala Rescue Team from Gujranwala Division.