{
  "id": 4574740,
  "title": "Punjab moves to prevent Pims-like tragedies",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/31/punjab-moves-to-prevent-pims-like-tragedies",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-08-31T02:57:37.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dawn",
    "slug": "dawn",
    "url": "https://www.dawn.com/news/2026257/punjab-moves-to-prevent-pims-like-tragedies"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "On Sunday, the Specialized Healthcare & Medical Education Department of the Punjab government issued an official letter to Emergency Services Department (ESD) Punjab Secretary Rizwan Naseer, instructing him to deploy Rescue 1122 officials at all government teaching hospitals across Punjab. The primary objective of this deployment is to establish a uniform and standard emergency response mechanism, reinforcing emergency preparedness, response, and coordination at tertiary-care hospitals.\n\nUnder this initiative, emergency officers will be tasked with standardising and monitoring emergency response protocols. They will coordinate with hospital emergency, security, fire-safety and other relevant teams, conducting regular inspections of emergency exits, fire extinguishers, and life-safety arrangements.\n\nIn addition to the deployment of Rescue 1122, the Punjab government has formed an 11-member Technical Working Group (TWG) to prepare Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for nursery and neonatology units at all public-sector teaching hospitals. The TWG, with senior medical teachers and doctors as members, was appointed by the University of Child Health Sciences Lahore Vice Chancellor Prof Masood Sadiq as its convener. The committee's task includes developing clinical admission and discharge criteria, establishing step-down and shared-care pathways with peripheral hospitals, and guiding hospitals on fire safety, evacuation, firefighting, and electrical-load management in neonatal settings. The committee must submit its recommendations to the competent authority within seven days.",
  "summary": "• Orders Rescue 1122 deployment at all teaching hospitals across the province • 11-member working group to prepare SOPs for nursery, neonatology units LAHORE: The Punjab government has initiated multiple major steps at public-sector hospitals across the province to prevent a recurrence of the incident that claimed the lives of 14 infants at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) in…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}