Advisor to the Sindh Chief Minister on Rehabilitation Giyan Chand Essrani chaired a review meeting on the performance and progress of Sindh Emergency Rescue Services 1122, discussing measures to improve emergency response, expand rescue services, establish new stations, upgrade and maintain equipment, strengthen human resources and training, improve infrastructure and address pending projects.
During the meeting, Mr Essrani directed officials to expedite measures to improve Rescue 1122’s performance, expand emergency response services across Sindh, including Karachi, and accelerate the establishment of new rescue stations.
Secretary Rehabilitation Rafiq Mustafa Shaikh, Director General of Sindh Emergency Rescue Services 1122 Brig (retd) Wajid Sibghatullah Mahar, Director Operations Dr Abid Shaikh, Director Administration Sardar Shah and other relevant officials attended the meeting.
The meeting was informed that Rescue 1122’s command and control centre received an average of 24,700 calls daily, with the annual volume reaching approximately 9.8 million. The average emergency response time was eight to 12 minutes, increasing to 20 to 22 minutes during peak traffic hours, while rescue motorcycles reached incident sites within an average of four to five minutes.
Since its inception, Rescue 1122 has provided more than 1.33 million medical emergency interventions. The service has also carried out 1,822 highway rescue operations, 740 water rescues, 5,264 fire response operations and 169 operations involving structural collapses, saving 5,238 lives.
During the 2025 floods, the service evacuated 1,529 people to safer locations and rescued 750 animals. The organisation currently has a fleet of 149 vehicles and a workforce of 1,723 personnel. Sindh has 15 highway rescue stations and 15 satellite stations.
A briefing on emergency services related to rabies cases revealed that between April 21 and Oct 14, 2026, Rescue 1122 received 136 calls, referred 86 people for anti-rabies vaccination, dispatched ambulances in 62 cases and facilitated vaccination for 65 people.
The meeting was further informed that Rescue 1122 responded to 1,220 incidents between July and September 2026, compared with 961 incidents during the corresponding period last year. Regarding training, officials said 1,290 training activities had been conducted between May 2023 and September 2026, with 69,808 participants. In addition, 1,972 fire safety audits were carried out between January and September 2026.
The meeting was informed that rescue stations in Matiari, Sanghar and Naushahro Feroze were ready and would commence operations during the current year, while construction work was under way in Khairpur and Rohri.
Administrative, infrastructure and financial matters were also reviewed, including the disbursement of employees’ salaries, expenditure utilisation reports and the annual procurement plan for the financial year 2026-27.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Essrani said the timely and effective provision of emergency assistance to the public was among the Sindh government’s top priorities. He said all necessary measures would be taken to enhance Rescue 1122’s operational capacity and further strengthen the emergency response system.