The Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) and NGO - Foundation for Peace agreed to work for prevention of road traffic crashes, which are the leading cause of death and disability amongst young. Rescue 1122 and Foundation for Peace would work jointly for capacity building of rescuers, awareness and advocacy of drivers.
In this regard, the Director General Punjab Emergency Service Dr Rizwan Naseer and Chairman Foundation for Peace Nazir Hussain signed the agreement here on Monday. Khawaja Mohammad Asif from Foundation and Deputy Director Training Dr Farhan Khalid from Rescue 1122 have been appointed as focal persons from both organisations for maintenance of close co-ordination in the future.
Under the agreement, the Rescue 1122 will provide physical infrastructure and space for activities including installation of simulators, allied equipment, classrooms, information technology, language labs, and offices and arranging training vehicles to the Foundation for Peace. The Rescue 1122 will further provide communication facilities, liaison with government departments, and assistance to establish Emergency Drivers Training Institution in the Emergency Services Academy. The Foundation will develop driving standards for emergency drivers, curriculum, syllabus, training and testing material, testing methodologies, and ensuring certification of trained drivers as per international standards.
Dr Rizwan Naseer while considering this step as a valuable addition in training wing has said that the initiative will enhance professional expertise of the rescue drivers. He said that a traffic accident always takes place owing to certain reasons, either due to fault of the driver, faulty construction of roads, mechanical fault in the vehicle or due to fault of the road users. "We can reduce the increasing number of road traffic accidents significantly by implementation of strict enforcement of road and life safety laws," he added.
He further said that after providing the basic right to timely emergency response and care without discrimination, Rescue 1122 is contributing towards building socially responsible, healthy, resilient and safer communities. The Chairman of Foundation for Peace Nazir Hussain said on this occasion that both parties have agreed to collaborate in the best public interest to prevent road traffic crashes through capacity building, awareness and advocacy for prevention of road traffic crashes.