Cashless treatment of road accident victims 2025

As you know, it is vital that road accident victims get prompt treatment. If you are a bystander, please help the victims, and don't worry about any police or legal hassles. Read on to find out why.

A workshop on the implementation of the scheme for cashless treatment of road accident victims and standard operating procedure for electronic monitoring and enforcement of road safety was held under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Minister of Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari and presence of Hon'ble MoS Shri Ajay Tamta and Shri Harsh Malhotra at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, today.

MORTHINDIA @MORTHIndia 

In a landmark move aimed at enhancing road safety and emergency healthcare, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified the Cashless Treatment for Road Accident Victims Scheme - 2025 and detailed scheme guidelines.

Rolled out under Section 162 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, the scheme allows for free cashless treatment for road accident victims for up to Rs 1.5 lakh at any hospital for 7 days.

Legalese and fine print:

11. Recovery 11.1. During preliminary police verification, in case it is found that victim is not a road accident victim and ineligible to receive benefits under this Scheme, he / she may be liable for bearing the entire treatment cost.

11.2. In case of accident caused by the use of a motor vehicle not having valid motor third party insurance coverage, then the following procedure shall be followed:

11.2.1. In case the treatment amount is credited by the owner of the offending motor vehicle into the MV Accident Fund, then the MV Accident Fund Trust may not become a party to the recovery proceedings (if any) before the jurisdictional MACT.

11.2.2. However, in case the amount is not deposited, the GI Council (on behalf of MV Accident Fund Trust), through the District Magistrate / Collector, shall become a party to the recovery proceedings, on the basis of the authorization received from the victim availing the treatment. The DM / DC may designate an officer not below the rank of Additional District Collector to represent the GI Council before the jurisdictional MACT in the recovery proceedings. The details of the treatment provided to the victims of such accidents shall be made available to concerned MACT.

11.2.3. Subsequent to the MACT award, in case the cost of treatment is not recovered either due to non-compliance by the vehicle owner or due to inadequate monetary value of the confiscated vehicle, then the GI Council (being the decree holder) through the DM / DC may file a civil suit under section 37 of the Code of 12 Civil Procedure in the jurisdictional civil court. Under such court proceedings, the Court can direct the District Collector to attach the property of the owner of the offending motor vehicle and recover the amount.

Police SOP

13.2. The district police should ensure immediate generation of eDAR victim ID and that a police official accompanies the victim to the hospital, so that the eDAR victim ID of eDAR is made available to the hospital immediately to initiate the treatment of the victim. Necessary sensitisation of police personnel may be carried out in this regard and to adopt the use of eDAR mobile app for immediate generation of the eDAR victim ID. This would entail conducting localised trainings at regular intervals to sensitise about the police officials about the need for timely certification of genuine road accidents.

Grievance management 14.1. NHA’s helpline number (14555) shall be available and widely publicised to address the queries, public grievances etc.

14.2. The said grievance management would cover the following categories:

14.2.1. Grievances from victims related to hospitalization, treatment etc.,

14 14.2.2. Grievances from hospitals regarding settlement of claims

14.2.3. Grievances from SHA, administrators etc.

14.3. The grievance mechanism would also include an escalation mechanism, with prescribed timelines, to be defined for cases of non-resolution of grievances.

14.4. A dedicated point of contact for grievance redressal would need to be appointed by each stakeholder of the Scheme, i.e., hospitals, police, SHAs etc. Review of grievances related to the Scheme may be taken up as one of the agenda points of periodic meetings of District Road Safety Committee.

15. Fraud control

15.1. All Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), guidelines etc. developed by NHA shall be applicable for this Scheme.

15.2. Such SOPs and guidelines may include provisions related to tele-verifications, mandatory documentation, on-field investigations, hospital audits, use of technology for trend analysis, punitive recoveries or any other measures deemed essential by NHA.