Road accident victims will now get medical aid first at hospitals as part of the government’s new initiative. The central government has announced a pilot program to provide cashless treatment to road accident victims up to a maximum of Rs. 1.5 lakh per accident. The pilot program is being initiated in Chandigarh and is being developed under the aegis of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).
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A statement from the centre read, “The broad contours of the pilot programme are -- victims entitled to cashless treatment up to a maximum of Rs. 1.5 lakh per accident per person for a maximum period of 7 days from date of the accident.”
The pilot program aims to establish an ecosystem for providing timely medical care to the victims of road accidents, including the golden hour. The claims raised by hospitals for providing treatment will be reimbursed from the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund. The pilot project will apply to all road accidents caused by the use of motor vehicles of any category.
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The National Health Authority (NHA) will be the implementing agency for the pilot programme, which will be coordinating with police, hospitals, State Health Agency (SHA) and more. The centre further said that the pilot program will be implemented through an IT platform, combining the functionalities of the e-Detailed Accident Report (eDAR) application of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the Transaction Management System (TMS) of NHA.
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The results of the pilot program will be crucial for a pan-India implementation of the project. According to MoRTH, a total of 461,312 road accidents occurred in 2022 claiming the lives of 168,491 people, while 443,366 people were injured. The free and cashless medical treatment to accident-injured victims is part of the amended Motor Vehicle Act 2019. While some states have implemented it, a full-scale implementation will now be underway.
