Punjab to offer free treatment to road accident victims

CHANDIGARH: With an aim to make maximum use of the ‘golden hour’ to save precious lives of road accident victims, the Punjab government has decided to provide free treatment to all road accident victims within the first 48 hours of the mishap as part of the Farishtey scheme, said Punjab Health and Family Welfare minister Dr Balbir Singh on Tuesday.

Golden hour is the first crucial hour after a road accident, during which time if a seriously injured person is given critical care, their chances of survival increase highly.

“Irrespective of domicile of the person, Punjab government will treat all the road accident victims as one and will ensure free treatment at nearby hospitals including private hospitals during the first 48 hours of the accident,” he said while adding that the treatment expenses incurred on the treatment in first 48 hours will be reimbursed by the government.

Dr Balbir Singh was addressing the inauguration session of the two-day Workshop and Training on Road Safety organised by the Lead Agency on Road Safety at MGSIPA in Chandigarh. He was accompanied by the director general of Lead Agency on Road Safety R Venkat Ratnam, ADGP Traffic Amardeep Singh Rai and State Transport commissioner Moneesh Kumar.

Divulging more details about the forthcoming flagship Farishtey Scheme, which is at the final stage, the Health minister said that anyone taking the road accident victim to the hospital for treatment will be rewarded with Rs 2000.