![Khyber Pakhtunkhwa officials in Peshawar September 22 stand near the province's first Mobile Emergency Medical Response Unit. [Muhammad Ahil]](/cnmi_pf/images/2017/09/29/9801-0455de8d-c98b-49ed-9084-079c96715ce7-739_416.webp)
PESHAWAR -- The first ever Mobile Emergency Medical Response Unit has started working in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), officials told Pakistan Forward.
"We have received the unit and it is functional now," Urooj Sherazi, KP provincial spokesman for Rescue 1122, told Pakistan Forward Thursday (September 28).
"The unit is very important to cater to emergency needs of patients, especially in remote areas where healthcare services are not available," he said, adding that the unit is equipped to handle emergencies such as natural disasters, terrorist attacks and accidents and is suitable for use as a temporary medical camp.
The endeavour is a pilot project in KP, which authorities plan to expand to other provinces as well, said Sherazi.
The KP government paid Rs. 20 million ($190,000) for the unit and handed it over to Rescue 1122 last week, Bilal Ahmad Faizi, co-ordinator for the rescue agency, told Pakistan Forward.
Modern equipment
The Mobile Emergency Medical Response Unit contains an operating theatre, an outpatient emergency room, a four-bed intensive care unit and an automated external defibrillator.
The mobile unit's state-of-the-art equipment includes an electrocardiography monitor, oxygen compressors and a mini-lab.
"If the mobile unit has all the life-saving facilities on the bus, it'll be a quick source of emergency care and will save precious lives," Zahid Ashraf, a professor at the Khyber Medical College Peshawar, told Pakistan Forward.
The emergency unit is badly needed throughout KP and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), which have plenty of emergencies but few suitable facilities, Mujahid Khan, a rescue worker with the Edhi Foundation in Peshawar, told Pakistan Forward.
