Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and National Highways and Motorway Police (NH&MP) on Tuesday signed an MoU to launch a road safety initiative to help reduce deaths and injuries on the motorway.
Federal Minister for Communications Murad Saeed was chief guest on the occasion. PRCS Chairman Abrar ul Haq, Federal Secretary Ministry of Communications Zafar Hassan and NH&MP IG Kaleem Imam were present on the occasion. The MoU was signed by PRCS Acting Secretary General Dr Adeel Nawaz and NH&MP IG Kaleem Imam.
Under the initiative, PRCS has provided eight fully equipped ambulances to the NH&MP for deployment on M-2 Motorway besides first aid kits for delivery of emergency medical and relief services to commuters in case of any traffic accidents. The PRCS will also impart free of cost first aid training to NH&MP staff besides raising awareness among the general public about road safety so that road fatality rate can be minimized.
Speaking on the occasion, Federal Minister for Communications Murad Saeed appreciated the initiative taken by PRCS which he said will go a long way in helping people and saving lives in case of road crashes. He said with increase in volume of traffic, ratio of road accidents is also going up with each passing day. “It is our duty to not only make the travelling easier but also safer,” he said, and assured the PRCS of all-out support in implementing such initiatives.
The minister said provision of ambulances by the PRCS is a praiseworthy step, however, the more important aspect of this initiative is first-aid training to the NH&MP staff. He said lack of first-aid training is one of the major causes of fatalities in road crashes.
Speaking on the occasion, PRCS Chairman Abrar ul Haq said around 100 people die in road crashes every day in Pakistan, which is an alarming situation. He said time is of great essence in the advent of any traffic accident as 59% of deaths can be averted due to timely and right intervention. “Timely intervention requires good vehicles to shift the injured to hospitals and the right intervention is not possible without skilled people,” he said, adding that resource and knowledge sharing between PRCS and NH&MP will help numerous lives on roads. He said prevention is more important than service delivery, adding that through boosting preventive strategies, not only burden of billions of rupees being spent on service delivery in the health sector can be reduced but also many precious lives can be saved.
NH&MP IG Kaleem Imam assured that the ambulances provided by the PRCS will be used in the best and professional way. He said NH&MP will deploy these ambulances on the motorway at the earliest. He said shifting the injured to hospitals is a very challenging task on the motorway, adding that the PRCS and NH&MP joint initiative will help timely shifting of the injured in case of any accident. Later, Federal Minister for Communications Murad Saeed, PRCS Chairman Abrar ul Haq and other dignitaries inspected the ambulances being handed over to the NH&MP. On the occasion, symbolic key of the ambulances was also handed over to NH&MP IG Kaleem Imam. Shields were also presented to the dignitaries on the occasion. PRCS and NH&MP senior officers also attended the ceremony.
