After relocating to his new office, Seva Teerth, this week, the first decision taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the approval of the PM RAHAT (Road Accident Victim Hospitalization and Assured Treatment) Scheme. It is enough to understand the significance of the decision for the government and the safety of the people amid increasing road accidents in the country.
Aimed at providing instant medical and financial support to road accident victims, the PM RAHAT scheme ensures cashless treatment of up to Rs 1.5 lakh for the first seven days from the date of the accident.
While stabilization care is guaranteed for up to 24 hours in non-life-threatening cases, the duration is 48 hours in life-threatening cases, subject to police authentication.
Under the scheme, all accident victims are eligible for treatment irrespective of the type of road on which the accident occurs.
In a statement from the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways released by the Press Information Bureau, road accident victims can avail the benefit of the scheme if the affected person or rah-veer (Good Samaritans), or any person at the accident site, dials 112 to obtain details of the nearest designated hospital and request ambulance assistance.
The scheme has provisions for cashless treatment of up to Rs 1.5 lakh per victim for a maximum of seven days from the accident date. The treatment will be subject to police verification through an integrated digital platform. The platform will ensure transparency and accountability through access to data from the Electronic Detailed Accident Report (eDAR) and the Transaction Management System (TMS 2.0).
The integration of these datasets will fast-track accident reporting, hospital admission, police authentication, treatment updates, and claims settlement.
Payment to hospitals will be processed through the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVAF). The ministry, in the statement, clarified that claims approved by the respective state health agencies will be cleared within 10 days.
The government has also made provisions for grievance redressal in case of complaints. The issues will be resolved through a designated grievance redressal officer appointed by the District Road Safety Committee, led by the District Collector, District Magistrate, or Deputy Commissioner.
