CHAKWAL: When he was chosen to be an emergency medical technician in the Punjab Emergency Service – also known as Rescue 1122 – Mohammad Adnan, 28, was excited about his job. Since 2009, he performed his duties with dedication and enthusiasm, and was considered to be active and competent by his superiors and his colleagues.

On March 1, Mr Adnan was put on bed rest – and the enthusiastic emergency services employee has since drifted further and further away, replaced by a man immersed in despair.

Mr Adnan has been on bed rest since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif landed in the Bharpur village, some 34 kilometres from Chakwal, to offer his condolences on the death of his family friend Abdul Razaq Jamil’s mother.

That same day, Mr Adnan was on top of a truck, showering water on the helipad being prepared for the prime minister’s helicopter. He slipped and fell from the truck’s roof – a height of around 16 feet – and severely damaged his spine.

Mr Adnan was first taken to the District Headquarters Hospital, and then referred to Rawalpindi. The district emergency officer Dr Mohammad Atique said his spine was compressed, and he had to be operated on urgently.

Mr Adnan needed Rs200,000 for the necessary surgery, but he received no assistance from his department, and the incident was not brought to the prime minister’s attention.

“My colleagues did their best to arrange some money, while our director general also collected Rs50,000 from employees at the headquarter – and so I went through an operation at a private hospital,” Mr Adnan said.

He was discharged from the hospital following the surgery, but doctors say it could take six to eight months for him to recover entirely. According to a Rescue 1122 official: “Senator Abdul Qayyum came, but only for a photo session.”

During the visit, Mr Adnan gave the senator an application seeking financial assistance from the prime minister, but the application has yet to be entertained.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2016