Centre plans to bring cashless treatment for road accident victims

The Centre is planning to launch a cashless treatment scheme with a cap of Rs 2.5 lakh per case to road accident victims to ensure everyone should get medical care.

For the cashless scheme for road accident victims, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) will set up a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund under it.

Both Ministry and General Insurence Companies will contribute to the fund. The accidents and hit and run cases by the insured vehicle, the General Insurence Company will bear the cost while accidents caused by uninsured vehicles the Ministry will pay the expenditure.

Besides, the vehicle owners will be liable to pay the cost of treatment as a part of compensation in the case of uninsured vehicles.

The Ministry asked the state opinion about the scheme.

NHA’s (National Health Authority) robust IT platforms which are used for implementing AB-PM JAY (Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana) may be leveraged to provide cashless treatment for road accident victims for treatment including the golden hour (first hour of the accident), the Ministry in its letter the state said.

“All road accident victims of Indian or foreign nationality will be considered eligible for the scheme as its beneficiary. The scheme will have a cap of Rs 2.5 lakh/person/accident,” as per the communication.

Trauma and healthcare services to road accident victim will be financed through an account which will be established under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for the implementation of the scheme, it said.

“Hospitals have to ensure the provision of stabilisation in case they refer the patient to an empaneled PMJAY hospital where the complete treatment may be provided,” it said.

As many as 32 of 36 states/union territories are implementing PMJAY and the scheme provides benefits to about 13 crore families.

Under the scheme, victims will be provided access to cashless trauma care treatment at the nearest appropriate hospital in the country, as per the communication.

The scheme gained significance as India accounts for about 5 lakh road accidents per annum, one of the highest globally, in which about 1.5 lakh people are killed and about 3 lakh are injured.