After many delays, Centre notifies cashless treatment scheme for road accident victims: Know key provisions, payment cap

Indian Express

06-05-2025

A week after the Supreme Court reprimanded the government, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) Monday notified the cashless treatment scheme for road accident victims during the 'golden hour'. According to the gazette notification, the accident victim shall be entitled to cashless treatment for an amount up to Rs 1.5 lakh at any designated hospital under the Cashless Treatment of Road Accident Victims Scheme, 2025, which came into force on May 5, 2025.
Going forward, any road accident victim who does not have insurance will be provided free treatment of up to Rs. 1.5 lakh. The rules of the scheme are yet to be notified.
The Central government under Section 162(2) of the Act was required to frame a scheme to provide cashless treatment to motor accident victims during the 'golden hour'. Section 2(12A) of the Act defines 'golden hour' as the period of one hour following a traumatic injury when prompt treatment has the highest likelihood of preventing the victim's death.
The scheme is significant since road accidents and fatalities are on the rise in the country and immediate medical help can save many lives.
All about Cashless Treatment of Road Accident Victims Scheme, 2025
'Any person being a victim of a road accident arising out of the use of motor vehicle, occurring on any road, shall be entitled to cashless treatment in accordance with the provisions of this Scheme. The victim shall be entitled to cashless treatment at any designated hospital for an amount up to Rs 1,50,000 per victim for a maximum period of seven days from the date of such accident,' reads the notification.
It also says that the designated hospital has to administer medical treatment to the victim immediately on the victim being brought to the hospital. The notification further said that the treatment under this scheme at a hospital other than a designated hospital shall be for stabilisation purposes only and shall be as specified by the guidelines.
The State Road Safety Council has been designated as the nodal agency for the implementation of the scheme. The council will coordinate with the National Health Authority (NHA) for adoption and utilisation of the portal for onboarding of designated hospitals, treatment of victims and payment to the designated hospital for treatment.
The agency will also coordinate with the State Health Agency to designate hospitals under the Scheme for providing treatment, in addition to the hospitals empanelled under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, as specified by the NHA.
How will hospitals be paid under this scheme
The scheme also provides for the steps to be followed for payment to the hospitals. 'After discharge of the victim under the scheme, the designated hospital or such other hospital providing stabilisation treatment shall raise a claim for payment of the cost of treatment package on the portal, in such manner and along with such documents as specified by the State Health Agency,' reads the notification.
According to section 8(3) of the Act, the State Health Agency shall either approve, in full or in part, or reject the claim, in full or in part. It will record the reason on the portal and make it available to the designated hospital as well.
According to the scheme, the Centre will set up a steering committee for monitoring the scheme's implementation. The committee will be headed by Secretary, MoRTH and CEO, NHA. Members will include Additional Secretary, MoRTH; Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs; Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; Secretary General, General Insurance Council, among others.
'The steering committee shall meet at least twice in a year, at such time, date and at such place as the chairperson may, from time to time, specify on this behalf. The steering committee may seek information from any State Road Safety Council or any entity or officer involved in the implementation of the scheme for the purpose of monitoring the implementation of the scheme. The implementation of the scheme in each state or Union territory shall be monitored by the respective State Road Safety Council,' according to the Gazette notification.
According to MoRTH data, in 2023 over 4.80 lakh road accidents took place in the country which resulted in over 1.72 lakh people fatalities. When compared with the 2022 data on road accidents, the crashes have increased by 4.2 per cent and there is an increase of 2.6 per cent in fatalities. Over 4.61 lakh road accidents and over 1.68 lakh fatalities took place in 2022.
Last week, a bench of Justices A S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan pulled up the Secretary, MoRTH, seeking to know why the government was yet to notify the scheme under Section 162(2) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
'People are dying in road accidents. You are constructing huge highways but people are dying there because there is no facility. There is no scheme for golden hour treatment. What is the use of constructing so many highways?', Justice Oka told the Secretary, who appeared before it last Monday.