Cashless treatment for all accident victims across India: MoRTH shares details on upcoming plan

The Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) is planning to introduce chashless medical treatment for victims of road accidents across the country, in the next three to four months. The new policy will be part of the amended Motor Vehicle Act 2019 (MAV2019) and while some states are already following cashless treatment, it will become fully implemented after the update.The announcement was made at the during the three day ‘Global Road Safety Initiative’ being held in Delhi, organised by the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) in partnership with theMoRTH and in association with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

‘Such cashless treatment shall be extended to road accident victims including during golden hour, as defined by the MV Amendment Act.’ said Mr Anurag Jain, Secretary, Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). He further aded, ‘India has the highest number of road accident deaths in the world, in a bid to reduce accidents by 50 percent by the year 2030, the ministry has formulated a multi-pronged strategy based on 5E’s of road safety to address the issue. Education, Engineering (both of roads and vehicles), Enforcement and Emergency Care. As part of road engineering , road safety has been made an integral part of road design at the planning stage. The electronic Detailed Accident Report (e-DAR) Project has been initiated to establish a central repository for reporting, management and analysis of road accidents data across the Country and rectify the engineering faults within a month or two.’

Around 130 road safety experts from over 27 countries are taking part in the initiative being held in the capital city, with focus on identifying safety codes to reduce road crashes and fatalities. The experts will work towards deliberating and finalising suggestive Codes of Safe Practice for, Driver Certification, Diagnosis of Road Crashes through Multi-Disciplinary Crash Investigation and Safety of Vulnerable Road Users.
In terms of promoting better safety through vehicular engineering, India has already taken several steps such as ABS and overspending alert system mandates, apart from the seat belt reminder and the new Bharat NCAP crash safety rating test. As per Dr Rohit Baluja, President, Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE), ‘The new set of recommendations arising from the meet will be tabled and discussed in the forthcoming Global Forum for Road Traffic Safety sessions in Geneva from March 2024. This will offer crucial guidance on the principles embedded in the legal instruments falling in the mandate of the UNECE.’