RescueRanger
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- Sep 20, 2008
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This year is the 18th anniversary of the Rescue 1122, and this thread is dedicated to a success story of mainstreaming emergency medical service and all hazard disaster response service in Pakistan.
The journey beings with one man Dr. Rizwan Naseer a trauma surgeon by profession witnessed the abysmal state of pre-hospital care in Pakistan. Dr. Naseer approached many bodies to improve the state of pre-hospital care in Pakistan this included EDHI Ambulance, Civil Defence, Fire Brigade and the Red Crescent movement but there was little or no movement.
In 2004, Dr. Naseer put forward a proposal to the Government of Punjab to establish a modern ambulance service to serve the municipality of Lahore and thus on October the 14th, 2004, with 18 Mercedes Sprinter ambulances purchased through M/S Shahnawaz Pvt Limited, and 2 Rescue vehicles the Punjab Emergency Ambulance Service (PES) came into being, albeit on a "trial" basis.
Image 1: Rescue 1122 Central Station (Lahore) 2 x Mercedes Sprinter Ambulances and 1 Rescue Vehicle (Toyota Hilux), Circa 2006
Rescue 1122 was an immediate success and improved the way in which pre-hospital care was provided in the city, the framework was unique, because going beyond the traditional "meat wagon" approach of ambulance services in Pakistan — PES staffed modern and well equipped ambulances with trained emergency medical technicians and mapped out the nearest trauma center/burn centre and ensured patients were transported to the correct facility to receive advanced care.
Dr. Naseer stationed staff at these hospitals and introduced the Trauma Handover protocol:
Image 2: trauma registration form (c) Rescue 1122 Pakistan
The handover form would be completed by the EMT in the Ambulance and handed over to hospitals concerned to ensure that the patients care was fully documented, administration related hurdles reduced and lives saved by saving time that would be otherwise be wasted on outdated practices of patient registrations at hospital.
The devastating earthquake of October 8th, 2005 was challenging for the entire country, PES sent a team of emergency medical technicians (EMT's) and Ambulances to the collapsed Margalla Towers, and later to Muzzafarabad, witnessing the lack of capacity and level of suffering and devastation - compounded by poorly trained responded the management of PES discovered the need for an organization that can provide an "all hazard" approach to disaster and emergency management.
Image 3: PES/1122 on scene of Margalla Towers(Islamabad) on day 2 (October 9th, 2005).
2006: THE PUNJAB EMERGENCY SERVICE ACT 2006 is introduced and PES officially changes it's name to Rescue 1122. Owing to the success of the "trial" service in Lahore, the Government of Punjab agreed to task Dr. Rizwan Naseer to establish 1122 services in the following districts: Multan, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Dera Ghazi Khan, Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Rahim Yar Khan, Murree and Bahawalpur.
The government of Punjab donated the grounds of the former new city GPO Bus depot to establish the Emergency Services Academy.
Image 4: Map of Punjab Emergency Services Academy, Lahore.
In 2006 & 2007 trainers form Rescue 1122 visited the Strathclyde Fire & Rescue Service to undergo training in Fire & Rescue skills to establish the fire fighting element of Rescue 1122.
Image 5: First batch of Rescue 1122 staff and trainers "The Pioneer Batch".
The service designed it's own title for staff as "Rescuer" and developed a unique uniform modeled on the uniform of the London Ambulance Service, the use of the title "Rescuer" and the uniform was granted protection under law with the introduction of the PUNJAB EMERGENCY SERVICE ACT 2006.
