Good Samaritans to be rewarded 5K for rushing road accident victims to hospital

Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Launches Rewarding Scheme for Grant of Award to the Good Samaritan who has saved the life of a victim of a fatal accident involving a motor vehicle
Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways(MoRTH) issued Guidelines for the “Scheme for grant of Award to the Good Samaritan who has saved life of a victim of a fatal accident involving a motor vehicle by administering immediate assistance and rushing to Hospital/Trauma Care Centre within the Golden Hour of the accident to provide medical treatment”. The Scheme mainly aims to motivate the general public to help the road accident victims in an emergency situations, inspire and motivate others to save innocent lives on road.

Any individual who has saved life of a victim of a fatal accident involving a motor vehicle by administering immediate assistance and rushing to Hospital within the Golden Hour of the accident to provide medical treatment would be eligible for the award. An individual Good Samaritan can be awarded maximum 5 times in a year.

The amount of award for the Good Samaritan(s) would be Rs.5,000/- per incident. On receipt of communication from the Police Station/Hospital, District Level Appraisal Committee shall review and approve the proposals on a monthly basis. The Appraisal Committee at the District Level comprising District Magistrate, SSP, Chief Medical and Health Officer, RTO (Transport Department) of the concerned District would sanction and send the cases to the concerned State/UT Transport Depart for making the payment to the Good Samaritans.

MoRTH will provide Rs. 5 Lakhs as initial grant to the Transport Department of the State/UT for making payment to the Good Samaritans. Subsequently, Ministry would reimburse the amount to the States/UTs on monthly basis.

A State Level Monitoring Committee under Chairmanship of Principal Secretary (Home) having Commissioner (Health) and ADGP (Traffic & Road Safety) as Members and Transport Commissioner as Member Secretary shall do Quarterly Meetings to monitor the proper implementation of scheme.

Every year, the State Level Monitoring Committee of each State/UT will nominate three most worthy proposals for national level awards on yearly basis to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for further consideration. MoRTH would have an Appraisal Committee for this purpose and they shall review the proposals received from the States / UTs and select the best ten Good Samaritans of the year. They will be awarded with Rs. 1,00,000/- each along with a Certificate and trophy during National Road Safety Month (NRSM) in Delhi.

The Scheme would be effective w.e.f 15th of October, 2021. Details of the Scheme are available on the Ministry’s Portal.
Eligibility:
Any individual who has saved life of a victim of a fatal accident involving a motor vehicle by administering immediate assistance and rushing to Hospital within the Golden Hour of the accident to provide medical treatment.”
5.1 Definition of Golden Hour:
As per Motor Vehicle Act section 2(i2A) “golden hour” means the time period lasting one hour following a traumatic injury during which there is highest likelihood of preventing death by providing prompt medical care

5.2 Definition of Fatal Accident: Any Road accident involving motor vehicle leading to any of the following conditions during treatment to victim and certificate of fatality by Hospital: a. Major surgery involved b. Minimum three day of hospitalization c. Brain injuries d. Spinal cord injuries

6. Financial Assistance (ln the form of Award:
   6.1 The amount of award for each Good Samaritan would be Rs. 5,OO0/ – per incident.

Explanation a. If one Good Samaritan saves life of one or more victims of a single fatal accident involving a motor vehicle, amount of award will be Rs. 5000/- only.
b. If more than one Good Samaritans save life of one victim of a fatal accident involving a motor vehicle, amount of award i.e. Rs. 5OO0/- will be divided equally among them.
c. If more than one Good Samaritan saves life of more than one victims of a fatal accident involving a motor vehicle, amount of award will be Rs. 5000/- per victim saved subject to maximum Rs. 5000/- per Good Samaritan.

6.2 Every cash award would be accompanied with a “Certification of Appreciation”.

6.3 Besides award in each case as per para 6. 1, there will be 1O National Level Awards for the most worthy Good Samaritans (who will be selected from all those who have been awarded during the whole year) and they would be given Award of Rs.1,00,000/- each.

Procedure to be followed for Selection: 7.1 In case the incident is informed to the police at the first hand by the Good Samaritan, after verifying details from Doctor the police shall pro videan Acknowledgment to such Good Samaritan, on official letter pad, mentioning the name of the good Samaritan, his mobile number and address, place, date and time of incident and how the Good Samaritan has helped in saving the life of the victim etc.
The copy of the Acknowledgment would be sent to the Appraisal Committee formed at District Level under the Chairmanship of District Magistrate by the concerned police station, with a copy marked to the Good Samaritan(s). A standard and uniform format for the acknowledgment to be provided to the Good Samaritan by the local police should be used throughout India as per Annexure – A. 72 In case the Good Samaritan takes take victim to the hospital directly, the concerned hospital shall provide all the details to concerned police station. The police shal1 provide an Acknowledgment to such Good Samaritan, on official letter pad, mentioning the name of tie Good Samaritan, his mobile number and address, place, date and time of incident, how the Good Samaritan has helped in saving the life of the victim, etc. The copy of the Acknowledgment would be sent to t1le Appraisal Committee formed at District Level under the Chairmanship of District Magistrate with a copy marked to the Good Samaritan(s).
On receipt of communication from the Police Station/ Hospital, District Level Appraisal Committee shall review and approve the proposals on a monthly basis. This list would be sent to the Transport Commissioner of the concerned State / UT Transport Department for necessary payment. The payment for selected Good Samaritan would be made online in their Bank Account directly by the Transport Department of the State/ UT. Reimbursement, for the same will be provided by MoRTH to the State/ UT Transport Department on monthly basis.
7.5 By 30th September or date decided by MoRTH every year, the State Level Monitoring Committee of each State/UT will nominate three most worthy proposal for national level awards on yearly basis to this Ministry for further consideration.