Road Accident Victims to Get Free Treatment
The union government of India has announced free and cashless medical treatment for all road accident victims within 3 to 4 months.
On 4th December 2023, at the Global Road Safety Initiative’ event, which was organised by Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE), the Union government of India announced that it is planning to introduce free and cashless medical treatment of road accident victims. The Secretary of Road Transport and Highways, Mr. Anurag Jain said “Free and cashless medical treatment to accident-injured victims is part of the amended Motor Vehicle Act 2019. Some states have implemented it but now the Ministry of Roads along with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will be fully implementing it across the nation.” According to Mr. Jain, the cashless medical service will be rolled out within three to four months. This announcement has come in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling and aims to provide free trauma care treatment for road accident victims at the nearest appropriate hospital in the country. Mr. Jain also said that the treatment facility will be fast & efficient and will be extended within the golden hour. The golden hour is the critical first hour after a road accident with casualties when quick medical attention can make all the difference. According to Mr. Jain’s speech, India has the highest number of road accident deaths in the world. A published Times of India article dated 13th October 2023 reported that there were more than 1.68 lakhs road fatalities in India in 2022 at 462 deaths per day or 1 every 3 minutes. Therefore, the Union Ministry of Education has also decided to include road safety as a part of school & college curriculum to spread education & awareness about road safety. This too shall be implemented soon. Apart from this, many other initiatives have also been taken like compulsory seat belts for both front and rear passengers. The initiative to mandate rear passenger seat belts came soon after former Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry’s tragic death in a road accident at Maharashtra’s Palghar national Highway in September 2022. He was traveling in the rear seat of his Mercedes SUV and not wearing a seat belt. Another major initiative is the Bharat NCAP (New Car Assessment Program) which is also being launched soon. It will assign star ratings to all the cars sold in India based on their safety performance to ensure vehicular safety at the engineering level itself.
