Anyone who saves the life of a road accident victim by rushing him to the hospital within the “golden hour” would be awarded by the government. Guidelines have been issued by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways which will be in place from 15th October 2021 till 31st March 2026.

 “The scheme for grant of an award to the Good Samaritan who has saved the life of a victim of a fatal accident involving a motor vehicle by administering immediate assistance and rushing to hospital/trauma Care Centre within the Golden Hour of the accident to provide medical treatment. The amount of award for each Good Samaritan would be Rs. 5,000 per incident. Every cash award would be accompanied with a certification of appreciation,” the road ministry said on Monday.

The “golden hour” is the term often used in trauma or emergency care to suggest that an injured or sick person must receive definitive treatment within the first 60 minutes from the time of injury or appearance of symptoms. It was believed that once this time has lapsed, the risk of death or long-term complications will significantly increase.The concept of “golden hour” is derived from the French military's World War I data. The doctors then believed that there is a golden hour between life and death. If an injury had caused potentially irreparable damage to the body, it needed to be taken care of within the 1-hour time frame, or the person would die in the next few days or weeks.(source medicinenet.com)

Good Samaritan rules were notified by the ministry on 29th September 2020 as provision under Section 134A of the Motor Vehicle Amendment Act 2019.The ministry said that there is a need to motivate the general public to help the victims of road accidents in emergency. As per the guidelines, a Good Samaritan can be awarded a maximum of 5 times a year. There will be 10 national level awards for the most worthy Good Samaritans who will be selected from all those who have received the award and would be given an award of rupees one lakh each. The Good Samaritans would be awarded 5000 rupees for every life they save.

As per the guidelines, if the Good Samaritan informs the police about the accident, the police will provide an acknowledgement to the person after verifying details from a doctor on an official letter pad. The copy of the acknowledgement would then be sent to the appraisal committee formed at the district level under the chairmanship of the District Magistrate by the concerned police station. A copy will also be marked to the Good Samaritan. If the Good Samaritan takes the road accident victim to the hospital directly, the hospital will provide all the details to the concerned police station. The police shall provide an acknowledgement to such Good Samaritan.

(with inputs from ht)