The achievement of extending the 1122 emergency service to 79 tehsils of the Punjab is creditable, and reflects the success of the service since it was founded in 2004. As 1122 Rescue provides an ambulance service, a rescue service, and a fire service, it has an impact on people when they are undergoing what will prove to be the biggest crisis of their lives. It is the public’s approval of what they have been doing that has led to the current expansion, which has led to their now bringing services to the tehsil level in well over half the province’s tehsils, 79 of 125. Coverage of all 36 districts has already been achieved. Now Rescue 1122 has got a tehsil presence consisting of two ambulances at each tehsil headquarters and a 29-member staff. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar handed over keys of 22 ambulances at a ceremony in Lahore for the first 22 ambulances, covering 11 tehsils, where the service is immediately available. The remaining 68 tehsils will be made operational by June.
It should not be forgotten that Rescue-1122 is plugging an important gap, which should be provided by local governments. Indeed, the fire service is proverbially considered a municipal service. However, the presence of 1122 rescuers, ahead of the more orthodox services in a wide range of emergencies, has shown that it is meeting a much needed gap. As the service becomes available in seven minutes, it is not just faster than its older parallels, but often proves the difference between life and death. This has made it such a desperately sought first-responder.
The target should now be to extend coverage to all the province’s tehsils. While fiscal prudence is to be prized as a virtue, it should not be allowed to come in the way of saving lives. With the expansion of the service will come auditors anxious to find malfeasance in the upkeep and operation of motor vehicles. That might mean long periods when vehicles are garaged because funds are not being released for repairs. That too is one of the dangers that must be guarded against.
