With a view to protecting the Good Samaritans who come forward to save the life of road accident victims, the union government has issued guidelines to hospitals, police and other authorities.
The 15-point guidelines have been issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, as per a Supreme Court directive.
According to the guidelines, the Good Samaritan shall be suitably rewarded by the authorities to encourage other citizens to volunteer themselves in helping accident victims.
They should be allowed to leave the hospital immediately after admitting the victim. Except for his or her address, no other details should be asked from the Good Samaritan who shall not be liable for any civil and criminal liabilities.
Police or emergency service personnel should not insist on getting details of the good Samaritan when he informs about the accident over phone.
Disclosure of personal information, such as names and contact details of the Good Samaritan, shall be made voluntary and optional, including the Medico Legal Case (MLC) form provided by the hospitals.
In case of intimidation of a Good Samaritan, appropriate departmental action would be initiated against the official concerned. If the Good Samaritan happened to be an eye witness to the accident, he/she should be examined only on a single occasion, if need be, he/she could be examined through video conferencing to prevent harassment and inconvenience.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare should issue guidelines to all registered public and private hospitals not to detain Good Samaritans or demand any payment if he/she was not a relative of the victim.
Lack of response by a doctor in an emergency situation shall be construed as “Professional Misconduct” under Chapter 7 of the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulation, 2002, and disciplinary action taken against such a doctor under Chapter 8 of the regulation.
All hospitals shall publish the guidelines in Hindi, English and the local language at the entrance. If the Good Samaritan insisted, the hospitals should issue acknowledge the admission of the accident victim.
Non-compliance of these guidelines by private and public hospitals would invite action.
