Qamar Rafiq, UK
IT takes an enormous amount of courage, determination and compassion to help others and save lives, day in, day out. We see the incredible selflessness shine through the hardest of times, and what we see on the newsflash is just a tiny drop in the ocean of what is being performed at the gold rush of humanitarian service Rescue 1122. Very often, the survivors smile graciously, tells me the alluring “healing effect” of the rescuers. Our emergency workers have pretty much invented us all with their passion and resilience to build a socially responsible and safer community. Being a centre for imparting emergency, Punjab Emergency Service has a cutting-edge experience in the fields of medical training, firefighting, collapsed structure search and rescue, high angle and confined space rescue and water rescue. There is no doubt, threatening incidents are part and parcel of the job. Many patients with time-critical problems, strokes, heart attacks, severe breathing difficulties require urgent medical care, the delay in response might be catastrophic. As a result, rescue workers lead from the front in the emergency preparedness, response and prevention to deliver timely care.
Under the robust leadership of Dr Rizwan Naseer, Punjab Emergency Service was started as an Emergency Ambulance Service as a pilot project from Lahore in 2004. In the fiasco of repeated attempts to revive, modernise and upscale the existing emergency services, many of us were very sceptical about the success of this initiative. Presumably, the modelling of such Service was quite a challenge, especially when there were no trained emergency personnel or emergency training institutes in Pakistan. Furthermore, the emergency units of the teaching hospitals did not have qualified emergency paramedics. Despite enormous challenges, the Service was established as a trademark of “A life saved is a family saved.” with strategic leadership model to recruit the right staff, training on advanced lines, acquisition of toll-free emergency number 1122, appropriate land and construction of rescue stations. Moreover, Rescue 1122 pioneered the international emergency safety standards, vehicle tracking and call management information systems for the effective monitoring to deliver person-centred care with compassion, respect, and dignity.
It is a historic moment; the Punjab Emergency Service has accomplished an epic journey of 16 years serving the nation in all 36 districts of Punjab. During this time, around 8.6 million victims of different emergencies were rescued. Also, the Emergency Services Academy has delivered training to over 19,000 emergency professionals from all provinces of Pakistan. It is a remarkable achievement and honour for the entire nation that the rescue team of Emergency Services Academy has become the first United Nations INSARAG certified disaster response team in the entire South Asian region. Alongside this, Dr Rizwan Naseer and his pioneer team deserves big round applause for their landmark determination and tireless efforts to establish an exemplary model of Emergency Service in Punjab which has been replicated in other provinces of Pakistan. There is no question, an international standard emergency service is operating in Pakistan. But the alarming increase in the number of avoidable roads accidents and fire incidents necessitate the need to involve everyone for the prevention of such emergencies to building a safer Pakistan.
There is not a moment to lose when so many lives are on the line. Rescue workers are the everyday heroes who run towards danger when we need them. I have always been deeply moved by the astonishing can-do attitude of rescue workers even in the gravest of emergencies. As a society, we owe our well-being and indeed our lives, to the men and women in our emergency services who work tirelessly to protect us in the road traffic accidents, building collapses and fire incidents. However, the one truth is we know there are some workers who pay an ultimate price as a result of their efforts in the line of duty, while others experience long-lasting effects on their physical or mental health. Rescue workers who rush to help victims and secure the area to prevent further casualties often face dangerous and demanding tasks that involve the risk of possibly fatal injury or traumatic stress. As a result of potential traumatic effects from such experiences, rescue workers are at risk of their health problems, yet we see the mental health and well-being is the least priority of the Government. Despite the fact, emergency service is already overstretched, millions of victims of emergencies through emergency ambulatory care, rescue and fire service were rescued while maintaining its average response time of seven minutes.
Meanwhile, we all have a responsibility to do what we can to support this community and to remember their determinations to keep us safe. The public gesture of trust at emergency workers diligence has amplified the necessity to formulate the service rules and regulations for the periodic promotion of dedicated staff. An equally important is to review existing reward systems and introduce flexible working patterns to improve the quality of life. We all know the prospects of a poor reward system and chaotic working patterns compound the stress and anxiety. However, the economic support packages for workers affected by the mental health crisis, or health issues will certainly contribute to encourage and improve the well-being of workers. Right now, I am sitting opposite my son’s toy basket full of playthings and blocks, the cat beside me, and I am short of words to express my gratitude to the true heroes of the gold rush of humanitarian service and their saga of serving the nation for sixteen years with professional excellence. Once my father said, there is no painkiller as effective as love, no antidepressant as soothing as cheer, no defibrillator as powerful as passion. Thank you, “Rescue 1122”, for your love, cheer, and passion!
—The writer is freelance columnist based in UK.
