Seeing a road accident victim while driving in Delhi NCR is not uncommon. Most times our initial instinct is to help, but we are in two minds – if in the process of helping it may become a challenge to face the cumbersome legal processes and trips to the police station.
However, I had a recent experience as well as another one some 4 years ago, where the process was hassle free and required no visit to the police station at all.
Few days back travelling towards Faridabad, I came across an accident; a person on bike was bleeding profusely with a deep cut. I stopped by and saw that people were sympathetic, but no one was taking him to the hospital. I decided to take him to nearby hospital but unfortunately, they did not have emergency department and suggested to take him to Apollo Hospital Sarita Vihar.
I took the road accident victim to Apollo hospital, but was a bit hesitant about the cost of the treatment. The experience at the emergency of the hospital was a pleasant one with the nurse just asking the basic details and started the treatment. They explained to the victim that all the expenses of Road accident victims, Fire burn cases and Acid attack cases are treated free of cost under Delhi government’s cashless scheme and the victim need not worry about the cost at all.
The amount of paperwork was minimal and I only explained the basic facts of the case and where I had picked up the person and my contact details and address. The good thing was that the treatment was started by the Emergency department without waiting for police to register the Medico legal case. As per process the treatment has to start immediately while the incident can be registered in parallel or afterwards. The treatment took about 2 hours; the accident victim had called his friend in the meantime.
Later in the day, I received a phone call from the police station under whose jurisdiction the accident took place. He just reconfirmed the details over phone, thanked me and said there are no further enquiries to me made.
A similar incident about 4 years ago was equally hassle free. I had called the police on ‘100’ at Kalindi Kunj, Delhi about an accident victim and the police came within 10 minutes and inquired about the brief details and took him to hospital. There was a verification call later in the evening and that is it … a completely hassle-free experience. The good thing is that one need not worry if the accident victim needs to be taken to government hospital; even a private hospital is also covered under the cashless scheme.
Hence, going forward… If one is in a position to help, please go ahead and help the accident victim without worrying too much about hassles related to visit to police station and giving statement etc. in the police station.
