NEW DELHI: Government will increase the reward amount for Good Samaritans who rush road accident victims to hospitals for immediate medical care to Rs 25,000, five times more than the present reward of Rs 5,000, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Saturday.
In a televised conversation with actor Anupam Kher on road safety, Gadkari said he has instructed his road transport ministry to increase the reward amount considering that the current reward is too little for a person who rushes road accident victim/s to a hospital or trauma care centre within the first hour (or golden hour), often crucial in saving someone’s life.
Though government introduced the provision of reward to encourage people to help road accident victims from Oct 2021, road transport ministry’s website 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.”
The present scheme specifies the procedure for giving reward and a certificate of recognition to ensure that genuine persons get them. There are different levels of verification and endorsements for anyone to get the reward. Moreover, the policy specifies that those who come to the help of victims in a fatal crash are eligible to get these incentives.
No data is available in the public domain of how many Good Samaritans have helped save lives and been awarded so far.