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Good Samaritans to be rewarded for taking road accident victims to hospital
According to the guidelines issued by the ministry, each Good Samaritan would also receive a certificate of appreciation besides ₹5,000 in cash for saving a road accident victim
The Union government has launched a scheme for ‘Good Samaritan’ under which anyone who saves the life of a road accident victim by rushing them to a hospital within the “golden hour” will get a cash reward of ₹5,000, the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) said in a statement on Wednesday, adding the scheme will be implemented from October 15.
According to the guidelines issued by the ministry, each Good Samaritan would also receive a certificate of appreciation besides ₹5,000 in cash for saving a road accident victim. An individual could be awarded a maximum of five times in a year, the guidelines added.
The ministry also said there will be 10 national-level awards each year for the worthiest Good Samaritans, who would be selected from all those who have been awarded during the whole year and they would be given an award of ₹1 lakh each.
The guidelines further stated that if more than one Good Samaritan saves the life of more than one victim, the amount of award would be ₹5,000 per victim saved, subject to maximum ₹5,000 per Good Samaritan.
To start the scheme, the Centre would provide ₹5 lakh as an initial grant to the transport department of all states and Union territories for rewarding the Good Samaritans.
The term ‘golden hour’ generally refers to the one-hour time period following a traumatic injury. It is during this time period that the likelihood of preventing death by providing prompt medical care to the victim is the highest.
Piyush Tewari, founder and CEO, SaveLIFE foundation, said the scheme would help in creating role models and encourage more people to come forward and help road accident victims. “We appreciate the latest scheme launched by the Government of India to recognise and reward Good Samaritans. It will certainly create role models and encourage more people to come forward to help the injured.”
“However, as the original petitioners in the Supreme Court judgment that initiated the Good Samaritan Law in India, we urge the government to also implement Section 134 of the Motor Vehicle Amendment Act 2019 to insulate Good Samaritans from police questioning, detention and mistreatment at hospitals and prolonged court procedures. While the government has released rules in this regard, the implementation at the state level has been found to be lacking,” Tewari added.
The latest guidelines state that in case the Good Samaritan informs the police about the accident, the latter would provide an acknowledgement to the person after verifying details from a doctor on an official letter head. The copy of the acknowledgement would then be sent to the appraisal committee formed at the district level under the chairmanship of the district magistrate by the concerned police station. Besides, a copy would be marked to the Good Samaritan.
If the Good Samaritan takes the road accident victim to the hospital directly, the hospital will provide all the details to the concerned police station. The police will then provide an acknowledgement to such Good Samaritan, the guidelines added.
According to Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari, a total of 366,138 road accidents occurred in India during the 2020 calendar year, causing 131,714 deaths.
