Cashless treatment for road accident victims from August

NEW DELHI: The government will roll out the country's first project for cashless treatment of road accident victims in August on the Pathankot-Amritsar stretch - the national highway linking the Golden Temple and Vaishno Devi. In this pilot project, the government will bear all medical expenses during the first 48 hours of hospitalization of road accident victims.

Road transport and highways ministry, which will implement the scheme across the country, claims it will ensure "right to emergency care for all road accident victims". Before country-wide rollout of the project on all NHs, the government will run five such pilot projects.

The government is undertaking the first pilot project on the 108-km stretch of NH-15 which is used by around 75,000 vehicles every day on their way to Vaishno Devi and there is one bus every 1.5 minutes. Moreover, four laning of the stretch is underway and it has mixed traffic including tractor trailers and horse carts. Between April 2011 and March 2012, this road recorded 2,410 accidents.

Since a substantial number of victims are pilgrims, they have no local contact to help them in case of accidents, which is crucial for recovery. The government has fixed Rs 30,000 ceiling for reimbursement. In case the victim stays in hospital for three more days, the hospital will charge 'discounted' treatment amount as per Central Government Health Scheme ( CGHS) or AIIMS norms.

A third party administrator -- nationalized insurance company -- will operate and monitor the scheme including recouping of medical expenses from the insurer of the vehicle.

"Our aim is to save lives by providing ambulances at short intervals, tie-up with closest hospital so that victims get immediate care during golden hour," said MoS (highways) Jitin Prasada.

The government is working out the seed capital for the project. "When we roll out the plan for the entire country, we have to bid out the projects, may be region-wise," said joint secretary (road transport) Nitin Gokarn. Once the system - network of Nehru Yuva Kendra volunteers, call centres, ambulances and hospitals - is in place, the response time of ambulances will come down to 10 minutes from the present 17 minutes.

NHAI will place signboards at frequent intervals which will have the phone numbers of volunteers/call centres and ambulances.

Giving details of the scheme, a ministry official said they had identified Nehru Yuva Kendra volunteers who would get trauma care training so that they become the first responders to accident sites. As soon as the call centre receives an emergency call, it will pass the information to volunteers, ambulance, hospital, rescue vehicle and police.

Whoever reaches first will provide first aid to victims. He will click a photograph of the accident and upload it on the server that can be accessed by hospitals to ascertain the accident. Punjab government has told the Centre that there are 231 hospitals, clinics and nursing homes along the Pathankot-Amritsar stretch and they would issue a notification directing them to admit all cases relating to road accidents immediately.


Source: Cashless treatment for road accident victims from August - The Economic Times

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Its very necessary all over the nation. The medical facilities and personnel (no offence to them) don't seem too excited seeing a patient, who's hardly in a position to pay money. Despite what the Supreme Court judgment said in 2007, this move is definitely appreciable.
While treating fatal injuries, the time and the treatment are both crucial factors. Late treatment is sometimes as bad as no treatment. Let's hope the situation improves.