Cashless treatment for road accident victims

Centre sanctions 85 more trauma care units along NHs

The Centre on Sunday announced a scheme to provide cashless treatment to victims of road accidents on national highways for first 50 hours to increase their chances of survival.

“We are bringing cashless treatment (scheme). Under this, priority will be given to provide best treatment to those injured in road accidents on national highways for the first 50 hours without bothering who will foot the bills,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his Mann-Ki-Baat programme on the radio.

“Every minute, there is one incident of road accident in our country. In every four minutes, at least one person dies in road accidents. And the biggest matter of concern is that among one third of those killed in road accidents is youth aged between 15 and 25 years,” he said.

“Just two days ago, I saw the scene (TV footage) of an accident. The scooter rider was struggling for his life on road for 10 minutes after he met an accident. He did not get any help. A family is completely shaken by the death of its member,” Modi added.

Road accidents being one of the biggest killers in India, lack of medical facilities for trauma patients is one of India’s serious public health problems. A recent survey on 14 Indian hospitals shows only one-third of trauma patients receive medical attention in the first 24 hours, which is considered the golden period.

Every year, India witnesses close to 5 lakh road accidents, which kill more than 1.3 lakh and injure more than 5 lakh. In four years between 2010 and 2013, there were a total 19,74,173 accidents that killed 5,52,828 individuals and harmed 20,43,466 others.

The health ministry identified 118 hospitals close to the highways and sanctioned special funding to develop trauma care facilities for treating the accident victims. But only 39 are functional as of now, official sources said. They said 85 more such facilities have been sanctioned, out of which 30 received the financial approval.

A bill to provide a scientifically-planned and evolving framework for the safety of all road users and enabling the development of a secure, efficient, cost-effective, sustainable and inclusive transport system would be brought soon, the prime minister said.

The draft bill seeks to come down heavily on traffic offenders, proposing stiff penalties or imprisonment for driving violations, including drunken and rash driving. The bill also proposes a minimum seven-year imprisonment for causing death of a child in certain circumstances. Modi used the radio talk to reach out to the parents, requesting them to sensitise their wards on road safety in view of frequent incidents of rash driving.