'Rescue 1122 service to be extended to all Khyber Pakhtunkhwa districts'

Director General (DG) Emergency Response Service, Rescue 1122, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Dr Shams-ul-Haq on Saturday said that after successful launching of the service in Peshawar and Mardan the facility will be extended to all districts of the province by the end of the current year.
He was addressing a function held here in connections with World TB Day here at Peshawar Press Club (PPC). Others who present were included Manager, TB Control Programme, Dr Abdul Latif and Dr Akmal Hussain of the Association for Community Development (ACD) and a large number of the force of Rescue 1122 Peshawar.
Speaking on the occasion, the Director General, Rescue 1122 said that the purpose of observing World TB Day and activity is to spread the message that TB is curable and its diagnostic and treatment facilities are available free of cost. However, he said that for the recovery of the patient, the 8-month treatment is must.
He assured full co-operation in playing volunteer role in the eradication of the deadly disease from the society. He said that the staff of Rescue 1122 on its all seven stations remains alert for 24 hours. He said that they remain inside their ambulances and vehicles for day and night and start their vehicles after the passage of each hour and report to control room. The provincial government, he said had so far spent a huge amount of Rs 974 million on the service, saying their ambulances are equipped worth Rs 7 million to Rs 8 million equipment.
He said that due to better facilities none of the patient or injured had died in their ambulances while on the way to hospital. On this occasion, Dr Akmal Hussein of the Association for Community Development (ACD) expressed concern that despite the availability of prevention and cure the number of the patients of disease is on rise, which had resulted in its declaration as epidemic. He said that TB is lethal infectious disease annually killing 1.4 million people in the world.
He said that according to an estimate the number of TB patients in Pakistan is 0.3 million and affects 50,000 people annually in KP. He said that Pakistan stands at No 6 amongst the TB affected countries in the world. The Department of Health, he said under TB Control Programme is implementing its TB prevention strategy and bringing phase-wise improvement in the provision of diagnostic and treatment facilities against the disease. He said that like other NGOs, ACD is also working along with the provincial government for creation of awareness against the disease and playing active role in provision of skill to health workers.
He said the ACD organised TB awareness programmes not only in KP, but also in Fata, Balochistan. Earlier, ACD in collaboration with Rescue 1122 organised a TB awareness walk. The walk was started from Iqbal Chowk, Peshawar Saddar to Press Club. The participants of the walk were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans relating to TB awareness. The walk was also accompanied by the ambulances of Rescue 1122.