Lahore, the busiest and congested city of Punjab has always been the center of attention of every government. Due to its massive population and overcrowded roads, accidents happen on a daily basis. Lack of proper ambulance system for the injured was a great factor of deaths in road accidents. Newspapers were littered with such news on a daily basis but, the government always paid a deaf ear to it. Although the people demanded it, but it was the least priority of all governments as they were busy looting the country and settling their families abroad.
The idea of Punjab Emergency Service commonly known as Rescue 1122 germinated when Moonis Elahivisited foreign countries with his father to see their emergency services. When PMLQ came into power, the need for a rescue department was raised on the assembly floor under the Punjab Emergency Services Act. Through legislative support and backing of Moonis Elahi, the bill was passed and it soon became clear that Punjab would be gifted with a modern and trustworthy life saving service. The vision was to provide timely care and service to every person without discrimination. With a mission to contribute towards building socially responsible, resilient and safer communities, it soon became the top priority for PMLQ leadership.
During his visits to foreign countries Moonis Elahi met experts to learn about the steps required to make it flawless. Subsequently, security experts from Austria and Australia were called to meet and discuss how the service could be made an exception in the region. With a motive to empower the nation and its youth in every perspective, vehicles were indigenously built in Lahore which ended up saving millions of rupees and also created jobs. The first phase planned was to initiate the service in 36 Districts of Punjab and in the second phase it would be spread to all Tehsils of the province.
Moonis Elahiemphasized in all meetings that educated youth should be recruited on merit and be provided with proper training for induction of the service to enable them to live up to its vision and mission. He regularly visited the Rescue 1122 training academy to inspect training of the newly recruited staff. He watched their performance and progress very closely and held regular discussions with stakeholders to solve any problems that came forth. During his visits to foreign countries, Moonis Elahi observed that the response time of an ambulance was about 15 to 20 minutes. He strongly emphasized that Rescue 1122 reach the affected persons in less than 15 minutes.
It was the result of Moonis Elahi's constant supervision that Rescue 1122 ambulance service was able to reduce its average response time to under 10 minutes. Until its inauguration, it became a daily routine for the authorized staff to report at 8am at the CM house and brief the PMLQ leadership over its progress. In 2004 Rescue 1122 was inaugurated by Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi which, without a doubt is a gift to the nation. Without compromising on the equipments and the vehicles, it was soon accredited to meet all international standards and was termed as one of the top rated emergency services in Asia.
To date, as per the statistics given on their officialwebsite Rescue 1122 states that it has successfully managed to save 7,83,292 people in Lahore alone and a total of 42,98,738 people in the entire Punjab. The step-fatherly treatment meted out by the current government of PMLN to Rescue 1122 is a great concern to Moonis Elahi. Their vindictive approach to undermine all policies and departments set up by PMLQ is not only hurting their credibility but also affecting safety of the people of Punjab. By not providing proper funds, the service has been badly affected but it still continues to serve the public with the same mission and vision instilled in them by Moonis Elahiand Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, the founders of Punjab Emergency Service aka Rescue 1122.
