Question : CASHLESS TREATMENT SCHEME FOR ACCIDENT VICTIMS

(a) whether the Government has signed any Memorandum of Understanding for Cashless Treatment of Road Accident Victims;

(b) if so, the salient features of the proposed cashless treatment Scheme for the victims of road accidents in the country;

(c) whether the Government has implemented this scheme across the country and if so, the details thereof including beneficiaries and the amount spent on this scheme, till date;

(d) whether the Government has requested the Department of Heavy Industry to fund scientific investigation of vehicles to check their accident/crash worthiness; and

(e) if so, the details thereof?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS (SHRI PON. RADHAKRISHNAN)

(a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 179 ANSWERED ON 04TH DECEMBER, 2014 ASKED BY SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE AND DR. SUBHASH BHAMRE REGARDING CASHLESS TREATMENT SCHEME FOR ACCIDENT VICTIMS.

(a) to (c) A pilot project for cashless treatment of road accident victims on the Gurgaon Jaipur stretch of National Highway(NH)8 was rolled out 29th July, 2013. Another two pilot projects for cashless treatment of road accident victims on the following two stretches has also been started on trial basis on 28.08.2014 :

i) Mumbai-Vadodara stretch of NH-8
ii) Ranchi-RargaonMahulia (Jamshedpur) stretch of NH-33

Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) between the Insurance Companies and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways was signed on 28.08.2014. The projects envisages deployment of ambulances for transportation of accident victims on the identified stretches of NH-8 and NH-33 to a Government hospital or an empanelled hospital. Cashless treatment for the first 48 hours or up to Rs.30,000/-, whichever is reached earlier, at CGHS rates/AIIMS rates will be provided in case of treatment at an empanelled hospital. An amount of Rs.20 crore for Gurgaon Jaipur stretch of National Highway(NH)8, has been sanctioned for meeting expenses on medical treatment of accident victims and Emergency Medical Ambulance Services (EMAS). An amount of Rs. 7,00,32,864/- to Mumbai-Vadodara stretch of NH-8 and Rs. 3,00,61,978/- to Ranchi-RargaonMahulia (Jamshedpur) stretch of NH-33 has so far been released as first installment (half of the sanctioned amount) to the Insurance companies.

(d) & (e) In the meeting held on 21.06.2014 in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to consider the Scheme for Cashless Treatment of Road Accident Victims on National Highways, it was decided to conduct scientific crash investigation into all fatal accidents, roll-overs and crashes during the pilot project. It was further decided that Department of Heavy Industry will formulate a proposal for undertaking scientific investigation of all crashes in the aforesaid categories during the pilot project in consultation with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure (NATRIP) and Institute of Road Transport (IRT) by providing funds from Automotive Cess.