Cashless treatment to begin soon

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will soon launch India?s first cashless treatment programme for accident victims on a 200km stretch from Gurgaon’s 32-lane toll plaza to Jaipur bypass of NH-8. The programme will ensure that accident victims get free treatment in the first crucial 48 hours, with the government bearing the expenses. While research has found that survival rates of accident victims increase by about 50% if they receive treatment within the first one hour, the programme aims to move accident victims to the hospital within 20 minutes. Treatment costs for persons covered by medical insurance will come from the insurance companies while the government will bear the costs of those not covered. More than 50 hospitals have been included in the programme to admit injured people immediately and provide treatment According to a World Health Organization report only about 11 in a hundred seriously injured are rushed to hospitals in India. Ten ambulances with advanced life support systems will be stationed about 20 km apart, 10km on each side. A toll-free number has been activated to enable calling an ambulance or reporting an accident had been activated and a call centre has been engaged to take care of all such emergency calls.