Govt plans cashless treatment for road accident victims | India News
June 30, 2020
NEW DELHI: In what would come as a big relief to road accident victims, the government will provide free cashless treatment up to Rs 2.5 lakh to ensure that every one has access to immediate medical care in such situations, including during the ‘Golden Hour’. The policy will cover foreign nationals as well.
The road transport ministry has roped in the National Health Authority (NHA), which is implementing Ayushman Bharat PM Jan Aarogya Yojna, to process the claims raised by hospitals after treating the injured and will use its robust IT platform to run the scheme.
The ministry will set up a Motor Vehicle Relief Fund with its own contribution and also from the General Insurance Company (GIC).
According to the ministry, GIC will bear the expenses incurred on victims due to accidents involving insured vehicles and in ‘hit and run’ cases. The road transport ministry will bear the expenditure for crashes involving uninsured vehicles.
The move gains importance considering that nearly 1.49 lakh people lost lives in road accidents in 2019 and about five lakh were left injured. About 15% of the fatalities are on account of ‘hit and run’ cases. According to a Law Commission report, nearly 50% deaths can be avoided by ensuring timely medical care to the accident victims.
Moreover, the policy aims to bring relief to the poor who can’t pay upfront to hospitals for medical care.
As per the plan, NHA will set up a dedicated cell for implementation of the scheme and settling the claims. NHA has been involved considering its vast experience in implementing Ayushman Bharat scheme.
Nearly 20,000 private and government hospitals are on the NHA platform and this would come as a big help for quicker and successful implementation of the scheme.
The claims will be released after proper assessment and there will be a “head to toe” examination of the recovered victims at a later stage.
The road transport ministry has roped in the National Health Authority (NHA), which is implementing Ayushman Bharat PM Jan Aarogya Yojna, to process the claims raised by hospitals after treating the injured and will use its robust IT platform to run the scheme.
The ministry will set up a Motor Vehicle Relief Fund with its own contribution and also from the General Insurance Company (GIC).
According to the ministry, GIC will bear the expenses incurred on victims due to accidents involving insured vehicles and in ‘hit and run’ cases. The road transport ministry will bear the expenditure for crashes involving uninsured vehicles.
The move gains importance considering that nearly 1.49 lakh people lost lives in road accidents in 2019 and about five lakh were left injured. About 15% of the fatalities are on account of ‘hit and run’ cases. According to a Law Commission report, nearly 50% deaths can be avoided by ensuring timely medical care to the accident victims.
Moreover, the policy aims to bring relief to the poor who can’t pay upfront to hospitals for medical care.
As per the plan, NHA will set up a dedicated cell for implementation of the scheme and settling the claims. NHA has been involved considering its vast experience in implementing Ayushman Bharat scheme.
Nearly 20,000 private and government hospitals are on the NHA platform and this would come as a big help for quicker and successful implementation of the scheme.
The claims will be released after proper assessment and there will be a “head to toe” examination of the recovered victims at a later stage.
