Mail News Service
Jamshedpur, March 19: District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), Jamshedpur Civil Court Secretary Nitish Neilesh Sanga stated that private or government hospitals could not refuse to treat victims of road accidents. He was speaking during a workshop organized for Para Legal Volunteers (PLVs) at the Nyay Sadan.
“No private or government hospital can refuse to treat road accident victims. If any hospital refuses to treat such patients or takes a lackadaisical attitude towards their treatment and if such cases are reported, strict legal proceedings will be initiated against them,” averred the DLSA Secretary.
Nitish Neilesh Sanga explained that in order to reassure helpful citizens that they would not be liable to police query the Jharkhand government had launched Good Samaritan Policy – 2020. He said the main purpose of the workshop was to make the general masses aware of the policy so that people came forward unhesitatingly to reach accident victims to hospitals for timely and life-saving medical attention.
Explaining the purpose of the Good Samaritan Policy – 2020, DLSA Secretary Nitish Neilesh Sanga averred, “In Jharkhand, the death rate of accident victim is pretty high. It is very important that in order to save the life and limbs of road accident victims, they should be taken to the nearest hospital within the ‘Golden Hour’ which is within a time span of one hour from the time of accident. The general people however, though they want to help out, are usually scared of facing police questions and legal hassles and so they back out. This is exactly why the Good Samaritan Policy has been introduced by the Jharkhand government,” and added, “This is all the more reason why the general people should be made aware of this Policy. The police cannot force the people who reach the road mishap injured people to give details of their identity. Once they reach the patient to the hospital, they cannot be stopped or detained for questioning.”
Sanga said that it was imperative and compulsory for all community health centres and hospitals to treat road accident victims. “Doctors, police personnel, government staff will be responsible to provide all necessary help to victims of road mishaps,” he stressed.
All PLVs present at the workshop were directed to launch extensive awareness drive on the Good Samaritan Policy – 2020 so that people unhesitatingly came forward and help people suffering injuries in road accidents get immediate and proper medical assistance.
