Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari announced that good Samaritans who assist an individual injured in a road accident will be rewarded with Rs 25,000, five times the current reward of Rs 5,000.Speaking at a road safety event in Nagpur with actor Anupam Kher, Gadkari said the current reward was insufficient for those who rush road accident victims to hospitals during the critical first hour following the accident.
The minister further said that the government would now cover hospital expenses of up to Rs 1.5 lakh for the first seven days for the people injured in accidents. “This scheme is not only limited to those injured on national highways but also applies to people injured on state highways,” he said.
The scheme to reward good Samaritans was launched in October 2021. According to the scheme, people who save the life of a fatal accident victim by providing immediate assistance and rushing them to a hospital within the Golden Hour (the first hour after the accident) for medical treatment will be rewarded.
The government defines a good Samaritan as a person “who, in good faith, without expectation of payment or reward and without any duty of care or special relationship, voluntarily comes forward to administer immediate assistance or emergency care to a person injured in an accident, or crash, or emergency medical condition, or emergency situation”.