The Director General of Punjab Emergency Services (Rescue 1122) Dr Rizwan Naseer has said that rescue 1122 provided timely emergency care to 104,503 victims across the province while responding to 106,119 emergencies during the month of January. He said that the trend of an increasing number of road traffic crashes has become a leading cause of deaths, serious injuries, and disability. He further said that data highlights that around 50 percent of road traffic accidents are preventable and murmurs emergencies can be decreased through abiding the traffic laws and adopting safety measures. He asserted that usage of safety helmet and side mirrors safety while reducing speed limit up to 50km/h riding a motorbike can also be helpful to reduce the emergency.

He was presiding over a monthly performance meeting held at Rescue Headquarters which was attended by all head of wings. According to statistics, a total of 104,503 victims of 106,119 emergencies rescued by Rescue 1122 during the month of January 2020. Out of these emergencies, 25,296 were road traffic accidents, 67,501 medical emergencies, 1259 fire incidents, 1928 crimes, 27 drowning incidents, 89 building collapses, 17 explosions and 10,002 miscellaneous operations. The data revealed that the majority of fire incidents occurred in major cities, involving 314 fires in Lahore, 145 in Faisalabad, 95 Rawalpindi, 69 in Gujranwala, 63 in Multan, 52 in RY Khan, 39 in Sialkot, 37 in Sargodha, 33 in Bahawalpur, and 26 in Okara. Similarly, 6,233 traffic accidents were reported in Lahore, 2,399 in Faisalabad, 1,969 in Multan, 1387 in Gujranwala, 1,003 in Rawalpindi, 886 in Bahawalpur and 728 in Sahiwal.

DG Rescue Punjab further linked accident emergencies and disaster with importance of community awareness and safety training to minimize the number of emergencies. He expressed his serious concern over the increasing number of accidents and said that motorbikes are evolved in 80 percent emergencies which are resulting in deaths.