LAHORE, Nov 8: The Punjab Emergency and Ambulance Service, commonly known as Rescue 1122, has claimed to have saved the lives of 12,974 people during 14,614 rescue operations in one year after its existence in Lahore.

It has efficiently responded to emergencies, including 7,142 traffic accidents, 372 fire incidents, 68 building accidents and 16 bomb blasts, during the last one year. Invariably, the service’s average response time to an emergency was recorded seven minutes.

Following third party validation by the Punjab Economic Research Institute that regarded Rescue 1122 as a “model service”, the Punjab government has decided to upgrade this project as an autonomous directorate.

A decision in this regard was made at a meeting chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi, said health minister Dr Tahir Ali Javed while speaking at a briefing on the project at its main station on Ferozepur Road on Tuesday. Project director Dr Rizwan Naseer was also present on the occasion.

The minister said the service would soon be extended to the remaining seven divisional headquarters as well as to Sialkot and Murree. He said the project was a test case for the government that eventually showed success.

In order to give legal protection to this service, the minister said the Punjab cabinet had approved the Emergency Service Act, which would soon be tabled in the Punjab Assembly for approval.

In the absence of any effective body, he said, there was a great need to develop a solid infrastructure to respond to emergencies and calamities. He hoped that Rescue 1122 would give a leadership in this project.

The minister said the government was also working to establish an academy to provide state-of-the-art training to the staff. He said the project was now in process of recruiting and training staff for establishment of services at seven divisional headquarters, Sialkot and Murree.

Answering a question, the minister said the Directorate of Civil Defence had its own role. He also said the CM had desired that all line departments should coordinate with Rescue 1122.

Speaking on the occasion, project director Dr Rizwan Naseer said the service had greatly helped traffic accident victims as they were shifted to nearby hospitals under proper medical cover in the well-equipped ambulances.

In Lahore, he said, six rescue stations equipped with 14 ambulances and two rescue vehicles were providing emergency services to eight million population.

Dr Naseer said the project was developing a database of all accidents and emergencies. In future, he said, the database would help the government take preventive measures and spot areas, where most accidents occurred.

In view of the recent devastating earthquake in AJK and northern areas of Pakistan, he said the project had procured the latest rescue equipment as well as sensors and cameras to detect people trapped in collapsed buildings.

Answering a question, Dr Naseer said legislation would clearly define a system of emergency services. He said emergency services would collaborate with the fire brigade department for better coordination at emergency sites.

Answering another question, he said the Civil Defence was given the task of disaster management under legal cover as well as funding way back in 1993 but it could not even prepare a proper emergency crisis management plan.

CALLS: Dr Naseer said they were facing a great problem because of pranksters making calls on toll free 1122 number.