LAHORE - A passing out ceremony of women cadets including fire rescuers, emergency medical technicians, and rescue and safety officer (RSO) of Gilgit Baltistan was held at the Punjab Emergency Services Academy in Lahore on Friday.
Punjab Rescue DG Dr Rizwan Naseer and DG Rescue-1122 Gilgit Baltistan Dr Sher Aziz witnessed the ceremony besides other senior officials. The rescuers pledged that they would leave no stone unturned to serve humanity.
Dr Rizwan Naseer in his welcome address congratulated Chief Ministers of Punjab and Gilgit Baltistan and Punjab Governor for establishing Rescue-1122 Emergency Services in the hilly region of Gilgit Baltistan. He also congratulated the women rescuers stating that that it was important for them to remember what they learnt at the Emergency Services Academy.
Dr Rizwan further said that the emergency service which had been launched in Lahore was being expanded to other provinces as Rescue-1122 service had already been launched in Peshawar, Mardan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit, Sakardu, Balochistan and Sindh.
Dr Rizwan informed that on the formal request of Gilgit Baltistan government, the first batch comprising 186 rescuers of Gilgit Baltistan was imparted training at Emergency Services Academy in 2012. This year, the second batch comprising 18 women rescuers has completed the training.
“We will continue providing technical assistance to other provinces for replication of this emergency model in their respective areas,” he added. He said that Prime Minister of Pakistan had tasked Punjab Governor to expand this life saving force – Rescue 1122 - in other provinces including Sindh and Balochistan. Speaking on this occasion, DG Rescue Gilgit–Baltistan Dr Sher Aziz said that the selection of rescuers for Gilgit Baltistan was made purely on merit. We are thankful to Dr Rizwan Naseer for providing professional training to the recruits in the Punjab. Now this is the responsibility of the trained rescuers to maintain same standards of service in their respective provinces, he added.
He also thanked Shahbaz Sharif and Ch Sarwar and people of Punjab for this kind gesture of brotherhood for giving opportunity to replicate international standard emergency services in other provinces of Pakistan.
He also acknowledged the services of Dr Rizwan as founder of the Pakistan’s first trained emergency medical, rescue and fire services. “The experience, achievements and skills of the Punjab Emergency Service team will be of great benefit for us in Gilgit Baltistan,” he added. 
Earlier, the passed out women cadets demonstrated their professional skills of emergency management of victims in cardio pulmonary resuscitation; splinting, bandaging and use of state-of-the-art highly equipped cardiac ambulances. They also demonstrated skills of firefighting and rescue from height at this occasion. Dr Farhan Khalid, Deputy Director (Training) also spoke on the occasion.