In an effort to provide quick and cashless treatment to road accident victims, the Road Transport and Highways Ministry has signed a pact with ICICI lombard to roll out the pilot project on the Gurgaon-Jaipur stretch of NH-8.
Road Transport and Highways Minister CP Joshi said the pilot project was designed in view of road accidents taking toll of 1.4 lakh people annually and will soon be replicated pan India.
“The pilot project will begin in the next two months for which 51 hospitals have been empanelled which would provide help to victims during golden hour, the first hour or the most crucial period after the accident. The Ministry will contribute Rs 30,000 as upfront payment for any victim’s treatment,” Joshi said at a Press conference. Ministry has created a corpus of Rs.20 crore for providing cashless treatment to the road accident victims on the identified stretch at the empanelled hospitals for the first 48 hours.
The private insurer ICICI lombard would contribute Rs 30 lakh towards this initiative as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and will take care of the administrative set up including control rooms besides tie-ups with the hospitals. The pilot project is being launched to gain data and experience for rolling out a pan-India scheme aimed at providing immediate medical attention to the accident victims during the ‘Golden Hour’.
There are 250 casualties reported on the Gurgaon-Jaipur stretch alone per annum. The number of accidents per annum is as high as 5 lakh in the country, among the highest in the world.
The idea is that no one may be deprived of immediate treatment for want of money for paying hospital bills. The panel of hospitals will include not only government hospitals, but also private hospitals having requisite facilities.
To make the Project successful, the Ministry will enroll a large number of volunteers on the identified stretch of NH-8 and they will be imparted training in first-aid and trauma care in consultation with AIIMS and they will act as “first responders”.
The State Governments of Haryana and Rajasthan will be closely associated with the execution of the project. NHAI will put up sign boards at every 500 meters for precise identification of the accident spots and also provide jackets with reflective tapes and signs to the road safety volunteers. Besides, NHAI will closely coordinate with IIT teams and executing agency for prompt treatment of black spots and rectification of deficiencies, if any, in roads geometric, added the official.