Dr. Rizwan Naseer: Saving Lives and Changing Minds in Pakistan

Dr. Rizwan Naseer, 44, is a true hero of Pakistan.  Frustrated with how trauma patients were treated and the lack of emergency care, he decided to change things.  Sacrificing his successful practice as a doctor, he invested his time in establishing an emergency response system in Pakistan.  He not only succeeded, but he developed a training academy for emergency response professionals.  Up to date his team’s efforts have saved more than 1.2 million lives.  We got a chance to speak to him.

Elan: Can you tell us a little bit about your professional background?

Rizwan Naseer: I am presently working as the Director General (CEO) of Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) in Pakistan.  I was motivated to establish an emergency response system after looking at the suffering and mismanagement of trauma victims as an Orthopedics & Trauma surgeon.  In order to achieve this objective, I sacrificed a lucrative practice and initiated the Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Management Program in Punjab. Later on I finalized the Emergency Services Reforms at the national level in 2002, after building consensus amongst all provinces while working as Representative of National Task Force for revamping of Civil Defense for Interior Ministry of Pakistan.  I have also worked as the National Coordinator for Emergency Preparedness Program at the World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Ministry of Pakistan and Secretary General, Pakistan Red Crescent.

Elan:  You are the main powerhouse behind the Rescue 1122 program. Can you explain what that is?

RN:  The Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) established through promulgation of Punjab Emergency Service Act, 2006 is now the largest humanitarian organization in Pakistan with a strong network of infrastructure in all districts of Punjab that are providing technical assistance to other provinces of Pakistan as well. To date, the service has rescued over 1.2 million victims of emergencies through its Emergency Ambulance, Rescue & Fire services and Community Emergency Response teams, while maintaining its average response time of 7 minutes and quality standards in all districts of Punjab.

The service member’s core is “Saving Lives and Changing Minds” which is also reflected in the mission statement, “Development of safer communities through establishment of an effective system for emergency preparedness, response and prevention.” Rescue 1122 is highly trusted by the masses and has strong support from the Government of Pakistan due to its response in disasters in recent years. The organization is now entering into another phase of service by initiating Community Based Disaster Risk Management and Safety Programs.

Elan: When did you realize it was time for Pakistan to implement an emergency response system?

RN:  In 1991, when I conducted a study on trauma victims, I saw that there were over 95% chances that in case of any emergency, the victims will not get an ambulance for transportation, let alone any timely emergency care by trained professionals. Furthermore, pre-hospital emergency services like fire rescue and ambulance services were virtually non-existent. There were a few patient transport vehicles with NGOs without any essential life saving medical equipment and trained staff. The municipal fire services were extremely deficient in training and equipment as a result of which they could not go beyond sprinkling water from outside the building.

Thus it was quite clear that the citizens of Pakistan were denied the very basic right to timely emergency care in case of emergencies like road traffic accidents, fires, buildings collapse and explosions etc. This motivated me to contact all possible organizations like patrolling police, NGOs, civil defense and municipal fire services and run various pilot projects so that an effective pre-hospital emergency management system could be established. But when all these departments refused to accept responsibility I was left with no other choice except to establish new professional emergency service. After looking at this new model even these organizations have been compelled to improve.

Elan:  What has the response been so far from both the public and the government?

RN:  The third party evaluation by Punjab Economic Research Institute shows that this service provided a sense of safety to the citizens in case of emergencies. Most of the beneficiaries of the service are young able breadwinners of the society, thus this service has positive socioeconomic impact on society.

It is interesting to observe the public response especially in smaller cities it is like a dream for them, when a professionally trained emergency service arrives within 7 minutes on their one single call on emergency number 1122 and treats them without any discrimination of being rich or poor, caste or religion. It is for this reason it is highly trusted by the public. Furthermore, the performance of Rescue 1122 during recent floods and other disasters has resulted in strong support of the government which has also officially notified Rescue 1122 as Disaster Response Force and this model is being replicated in other provinces through the National Disaster Management Authority.

Elan:  What kinds of campaigns does your department run in order to ensure the public knows about these services? And even gain their support in implementing it?

RN:  In the beginning, the service started public awareness campaign so that citizens can fully benefit from the new service after the success of the pilot project in Lahore. This service is also working for prevention of emergencies like road traffic crashes, fires, buildings collapse and explosions etc and community safety program has been started to ensure community participation for which Rescue 1122 plans to start more campaigns.

In the past we have been running mass media campaigns with public safety messages off and on to ensure public support for emergency preparedness and prevention.

Campaigns have also been launched to restrict wrong/ obnoxious calls on this life saving emergency number 1122, giving way to emergency vehicles and getting valuable feedback from the public.

Elan:  You have also developed an academy along with this service. Do you find a strong interest from young professionals to work with Rescue 1122? Do you recruit students? From where and what field of study?

RN:  Emergency Services Academy has been established to ensure sustainable human resource developed in this long neglected field. This Academy is not only conducting regular basic rescue course for its own emergency service staff but also training emergency staff of other provinces and multinational organizations as well. The main reason for success of Rescue 1122 has been the quality training imparted to emergency paramedics and fire fighters for the first time in Pakistan, since trained emergency paramedics were not available even in emergency departments of teaching hospitals.

After the success of Rescue 1122 we have had overwhelming response from educated youth mostly with paramedical diploma or diploma of associate engineering who apply whenever jobs are advertised in leading newspapers for any district.

Our young rescuers are really motivated to work for saving lives of emergency victims and their spirit of service with professional training and physical fitness help them to save lives risking their own lives.

As far as recruitment of volunteers is concerned, many young volunteers including students and teachers are being trained by Rescue 1122 in life saving services who are volunteering their services in case of major emergency or disaster.

Elan: What has been your greatest challenge?

RN:  Initially the biggest challenge was training of rescue staff and establishment of a sustainable and effective emergency management system in Pakistan. After successful establishment of this system, now my real challenge is development of safe communities through effective community participation. When we say safe communities, it means community safe from emergencies and prepared to respond to disasters effectively if occurred.

Elan:  How do you plan on expanding the Rescue 1122 services?

RN:  The Rescue 1122 Service started in Lahore as a pilot project in 2004 and after its success it became functional in 12 major cities. Now it is functional in all 35 districts of Punjab that has a population of over 80 million and expansion to Tehsils is underway. We are also providing technical assistance and training to staff to other provinces of Pakistan. Consideration to provide technical assistance to neighboring countries is under consideration since this has proven to be an effective emergency preparedness, response and prevention model for South East Asia.

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