Govt to introduce novel 'reward scheme' to bring down road crash fatalities; free health in all hospitals

THIRUVANTHAPURAM: The state government has given shape to a 'reward scheme' to save the lives of people involved in road accidents. Schemes titled ‘SOFT’ and ‘SAVE’ will be implemented for this purpose.

SOFT (Save Our Fellow Traveler) is a scheme that provides emergency treatment. SAVE is a scheme for rescuing people in danger and bringing them to hospitals.

The people involved in a road accident will be enabled to get free treatment to the nearest hospital quickly through the soft scheme. For this, private and government hospitals and all ambulances in the state will be connected through software.

If the person driving the vehicle is involved in an accident or has a sudden fatigue condition, the ambulance service should be provided and the person should be taken to hospital immediately. Even if it is a private hospital, the government will bear the cost of emergency treatment. The 'SAVE' project is being implemented so that the people can take responsibility if the police fail to reach the spot on time. The Motor Vehicle Department and the Health Department will jointly provide training to roadside vendors as they have more chance of witnessing accidents daily.

If people find any driver fatigued or in a condition unable to drive, ambulance services should be requested immediately. People involved in this work will be rewarded for their humanitarian assistance. There are 3250 black spots in the entire state. In the first phase, 6500 people will be given training.

A fixed amount of cess will be levied at the time of vehicle registration to ensure free treatment for accident victims. Each vehicle has a different rate. The rate has not been finalized.

Sometimes ago, when the police were conducting their routine vehicle check, they encountered a driver who was slurring with words and seemed unconscious. The people gathered at the spot, termed him a drunkard and criticized him for booze driving. The police took the vehicle into custody. But when brought for a medical check it was revealed that the man had a high BP but was not drunk. Just shortly after the checkup, the man died. The two reforms brought by the government are to curb such happenings in the state.