Over 100,000 prank calls made to Rescue 1122 in Attock last year.

TAXILA -- Officials in Rescue 1122 received 145,894 prank calls in 2022, which proved irksome for officials in the main control room who remained on alert round-the-clock to arrange ambulances and fire trucks in case of an emergency.

This was revealed by District Emergency Officer (Attock) Ali Hussain while talking to journalists on Monday. Rescue Safety Officer Muneeb Qureshi, Control Room Incharge Samuel James, Station Coordinator Abdul Mutalib and Majid Qureshi were also present on this occasion.

'Last year, the emergency service received 172,377 calls in which 26,483 were genuine and the remaining were pranks,' said Mr Hussain. Expressing his displeasure, he said irrelevant calls wasted precious time of the rescuers.

'The bogus phone call phenomenon has burdened our human resource and sometimes leads to a debacle because many genuine calls are then missed and not responded to on time,' he said, adding that citizens should understand the significance of emergency numbers and try not to deprive actual victims of their right to be provided timely rescue and emergency medical treatment. Mr Hussain said he had directed rescue officers to ensure quality emergency care of citizens without any discrimination within the shortest possible time.

He informed officials that 172,377 calls were received in the year 2022, of which 26,483 were emergency calls. Out of these, 26,302 victims...