On Wednesday, Delhi government issued guidelines to ensure that the families and ‘good Samaritans’ who take road accident victims and acid-attack survivors to hospitals were aware of their rights. All hospitals, including private ones, are supposed to admit and provide such victims cashless treatment.

The health department of Delhi government has directed all private hospitals and nursing homes to put up information boards saying that they will provide patients of road accidents, acid-attack and thermal-burn injuries’ cashless treatment. The department has given approximately two weeks’ time to private hospitals to put up the boards at “three prominent locations” on their premises.

A senior Delhi government official said that under the Farishte Dilli Ke scheme, it is mandatory for private hospitals to provide cashless treatment of medico-legal victims of road accidents, acid-attack and thermal-burn injuries. To safeguard the information of this scheme reaches the beneficiaries, the health department has directed all private hospitals and nursing homes in the city to put up permanent information boards on their hospital premises at three noticeable locations.

The official added that the boards should be put up at the entrance of the hospital and should also be visible from the roadside, the entry point of casualty and emergency ward and reception or any other noticeable spot where the movement of public is high.

According to officials, since February 1, 2018, the lives of more than 3,000 accident, acid attack and burn injury patients have been saved since the Delhi government had launched the scheme to provide them cashless treatment.

Officials said that private hospitals or nursing homes need not have to enter into any agreement with Delhi government for the purpose of reimbursement of bills of patients treated under the scheme.

The official said that refusal of such medico-legal cases by private hospitals and nursing homes would be a punishable offence and the government will initiate suspension of the certificate against the hospital if any such case is reported. Cashless treatment must be provided to any eligible medico-legal victim of road accident, where the incident has occurred in Delhi, in any hospital provided the victim is brought or referred or transferred to the concerned private hospital within 72 hours of the case.