IRF | International Road Federation

NEW DELHI: In a move to reduce road fatalities, road transport minister Kamal Nath has now sought the help of his Cabinet colleagues -- home minister P Chidambaram and health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad -- to sensitise policemen and medical staff to provide all available medical aid to accident victims during the 'golden hour' rather than wasting time in formalities.

The 'golden hour' is the first hour from an injury, during which there is the highest likelihood of death if prompt medical treatment is not given.

The minister's letters come months after the transport ministry set the target to bring down road fatalities by 50% by 2012. According to the latest report of the ministry's transport research wing, nearly 1.2 lakh people died in road accidents in 2008.

Referring to Supreme Court judgments, Nath, in his letter, highlighted that there are no provisions in the IPC, CrPC and Motor Vehicles Act, which prevent doctors from attending to seriously injured persons and accident victims before the arrival of police. Nath has urged Azad to direct all hospitals and doctors to attend to accident victims immediately without waiting for the formalities.

Similarly, in his letter to the home minister, Nath has pointed out that people hardly come to the rescue of road accident victims since they are "scared" of the police lest they get involved in medico-legal cases.

He said the police personnel needed to be sensitised that even the apex court has clearly ruled that anyone bringing a road accident victim to the nearest hospital need not be questioned by the police.

"The entire police force needs to be trained and instructed about handling accident victims with compassion and utmost urgency. Traffic police should not wait for investigators to arrive at the scene before shifting victims to the nearest hospital," Nath has written.

About the need to publicise these court rulings and provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, International Road Federation president K K Kapila said that they had already talked to the Delhi health minister to put hoardings outside hospitals in the capital. "This can be replicated in all other states," he said.