The government wants you to be a Good Samaritan and help accident victims reach hospital ASAP.
The government wants you to be a Good Samaritan and help accident victims reach hospital ASAP. And if you are thinking, ‘Of course I want to, but the legal wrangles and questioning by the police is too much to deal with’, there’s some good news: the law is on your side.
Following an alarming rise in road accidents and related deaths, and to encourage the public to act quickly and take the victim to a hospital in the golden hour (within an hour of accident), the Union transport ministry has dug out an old circular that was originally prepared by the Delhi Police.
The circular states…
When an accident victim is brought to a hospital, the police need to take immediate action to save the victim, and those who have brought the victim should, under no circumstances, be detained in the hospital for interrogation. They should be treated with courtesy.
Members of the public, who rendered voluntary help to accident victims, should not unnecessarily be questioned. If they are unwilling to give their particulars, they should not be forced to.
The local police should also pay the person who brings a victim to hospital whatever he/she spent on the transportation.
The circular has been sent to all states and union territories asking them to follow it. “On many occasions, accident victims remain unattended for a long time without any medical or public help till the police arrive. The public hesitates to get involved as it leads to questions and endless follow-ups,” says the order.
“Keeping in view the unnecessary loss of human life, it becomes imperative to train our police personnel accordingly to save the victim,” it adds.
A latest report by the Union transport ministry shows that Mumbai tops the country in accident deaths. Research shows that a number of the accident victims could have been saved had they received immediate medical attention.
The circular also quotes a Supreme Court order that states that the effort to save the victim should be the top priority not only of the medical professionals but also of the police or any other citizen who happens to be connected with that matter or who happens to notice such an incident.
Senior transport department officials said that comprehensive training and awareness needs to be imparted to the traffic police and the public for effective implementation of the order.
No legal provisions
There are no provisions in the Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code or Motor Vehicles Act, which prevent doctors from promptly attending to seriously injured people and accident cases before the arrival of the police and their taking cognisance of such cases, preparing FIR, and other formalities.
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