The Central government is launching a pilot programme to provide cashless treatment to the victims of road accidents to reduce the number of deaths caused by motor vehicles, according to an official statement issued on 14 March.

The pilot programme, which has been developed under the aegis of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), is being initiated in Chandigarh and is aimed at establishing an ecosystem for providing timely medical care to the victims of road accidents, including during the 'golden hour'.

Victims will be entitled to cashless treatment up to a maximum of Rs 1.5 lakh per accident per person for a maximum period of 7 days from the date of the accident.

The National Health Authority (NHA) will be the implementing agency for the pilot programme, in coordination with police, hospitals and the state Health Agency concerned.

The broad contours of the pilot programme are that it will apply to all road accidents caused by the use of motor vehicles on any category of road, the AB PM-JAY packages for trauma and polytrauma cases being co-opted, and claims raised by hospitals for providing treatment will be reimbursed from the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund.

The program will be implemented through an IT platform combining the functionalities of the eDAR application of the MoRTH and the Transaction Management System (TMS) of the NHA.

The expansion of the cashless treatment facility to the entire country will be considered based on the outcome of the pilot programme, the statement added.