Free treatment to road accident victims takes off, hospitals notified
NEW DELHI: The Delhi government’s scheme of paying for the treatment of road accident, burns and acid attack victims at private hospitals and nursing homes has taken off, with the state health department asking hospitals to implement it with immediate effect.
Anyone who meets with an accident, or has a burn or acid injury within Delhi will be eligible for the scheme irrespective of what their i ncome is and whether they are Delhi residents.
Delhi government will pay for all emergency treatment, diagnostics and surgeries for up to 15 days. If longer treatment is needed, hospitals have to seek permission from the five regional directors.
“The scheme will cover all emergency procedures – blood transfusions, diagnostic tests like CT/ MRI, surgeries, ICU and ventilator support. The hospitals have to provide all services given to patients admitted to their economy category. The private hospitals will be paid at CGHS rates from a corpus Delhi Arogya Kosh,” said Dr Kirti Bhushan, Delhi’s director general of health services. Delhi Arogya Kosh is a ₹110 crore corpus that earns interest.
To get reimbursed, the hospitals have to submit the medical and medico-legal details -- such as the patient’s name, age, gender, address, medical history, who brought in the patient, police station and medico-legal case number — to the health department within six hours of the patient’s arrival.
Of the 230 hospitals and nursing homes equipped to deal with such emergencies, 22 hospitals have signed the memorandum of understanding with Delhi government. The rest are in the process, according to Dr Bhushan.
“We have sent a letter to seek appointment from the DGHS for the execution of the agreement in line with our meetings with
their representive,” said Max Hospital authorities.
Indraprastha Apollo hospital management is in talks with the government and only the final stage of MOU signing remains, said hospital sources who did not want to be named.
More than 1,600 people die because of road traffic accidents in Delhi every year. The aim of the scheme is to ensure that victims receive emergency treatment as soon as possible.
Road accident victims usually need CT scans and MRIS to spot damage to the brain and spine and any bleeding organs, they need multiple surgeries to repair the damage, fractures have to be fixed, and in most severe cases the patients need ventilator support. Burn and acid attack victims too need multiple plastic surgeries and ICU support.
“Precious hours are lost when the police commute long distances to take the victims to government hospitals because private hospitals either don’t accept road accident victims or just stabilise them before sending them
off to government hospitals because they are unsure about who would pay for the treatment. We will,” the Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain had said when HT broke the story in March last year.
While a Supreme Court judgment, Delhi’s nursing home act and the code of criminal procedure already mandate private hospitals provide emergency first-aid to victims of road-traffic accidents, this scheme will ensure they get complete treatment and are not referred from hospital to hospital.
The scheme received a cabinet nod in December.
In case, the hospital or nursing home thinks that the patient needs to be transferred to a higher centre, the information along with the reason for doing so will have to be communicated with the health department within 24 hours. “In case, the reason for such transfer/referral is not found to be satisfactory by Supervising Authority a show cause notice will be issued,” the guidelines read.