‘Good Samaritan Policy’ has been approved by Delhi Government to encourage people in the national capital to help victims of road accident in emergency situations. Also the Supreme Court of India has ordered that people who help accident victims will not be questioned or harassed by police.
The policy was approved by the state cabinet meeting chaired by Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi. This policy will give incentives to people who will help road accident victims in the national capital and a team of experts has been formed to provide legal advice to the good Samaritans.
Under the policy:
1. Appreciation certificate and monetary incentive of Rs. 2,000 will be given by the government to people who will help road accident victims.
2. The policy is aimed to encourage people in the national capital to take accident victims to hospitals in emergency situations, in order to reduce number of accidental deaths.
3. Most people in the national capital are reluctant to help road accident victims because of the questions asked by police and harassment they had to face. The policy has been launched to change thinking of people.
4. Under this scheme, first aid kits will be provided to licence-holding auto-rickshaw drivers in Delhi. A five-hour first aid training will be given to the drivers.
5. In April 2016, under this scheme, the Government of Delhi had decided to provide all auto-rickshaw drivers with basic life support training, so that they could be a helping hand in case of a road accident.
6. At present, there are approx. 82,000 auto-rickshaws in the national capital. The Delhi government also has a fleet of about 210 ambulances under the Centralised Accident and Trauma Services (CATS), with an aim to add 55 more soon.
Views
Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, has said that the Good Samaritan Policy is aimed to inspire people to help accident victims in emergency situations and to take them to hospitals to save their lives.
He also said that people in the national capital are found unwilling to help accident victims, because of the fear of harassment and questions asked by police. It has been seen that doctors in hospitals also cite the death of accident victim in most of the cases due to delay in bringing them to hospital.
