NAROWAL: Five of the 11 ambulances of Rescue 1122 are being fixed in workshop leaving the populace with inadequate facilities to get help in case of any emergency.

Some people have complained about the sorry state of affairs in the absence of ambulance services.

Information gleaned by Dawn shows there are only 11 Rescue 1122 ambulances in three tehsils of Narowal district and Kartarpur. Zafarwal tehsil has more than 400 villages and two ambulances have been provided to the populace for emergency services.

Most vehicles are being fixed at workshop

Shakargarh is the largest tehsil with more than 650 villages and only one Rescue 1122 ambulance. Gurdwara Baba Guru Nanak has two Rescue 1122 ambulances for the convenience of Sikh pilgrims in case of emergency. There are six rescue ambulances at the service’s District Headquarters in Narowal. Five to six of the 11 ambulances remain off-road daily.

Muhammad Afzal and Nasir Jamshed, residents of Shakargarh, said whenever Rescue 1122 was called in an emergency situation, the answer was that the vehicles were out of order and it’s not possible to provide immediate service.

Imran Ahmed and Mohammad Maqbool said the ambulances of the Rescue 1122 were less visible on road and more visible in the workshops. Maqbool Ahmed said he was a resident of Sadwala village and his mother had a heart attack in July last. He said Rescue 1122 was called in an emergency and a vehicle arrived but the air-conditioner was not working.

Sources said most of the 11 ambulances remained out of order causing severe inconvenience to the citizens. During June and July, they said, nine out of 11 ambulances of the Rescue 1122 had faulty air-conditioning.

The citizens have demanded Rescue 1122 Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer and Chief Minister Usman Buzdar to take notice of the deterioration of rescue ambulances and their unavailability in case of an emergency. They said the number of ambulances should be increased to facilitate the people.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2021