At Rs 10,000 a person,help at hand for accident victims

Agharkhedkar said the IMA would ascertain the claim of the accident victim that he/she belonged to the BPL category. The civic body will provide funds to the tune of Rs 10,000 per accident victim and the patient will be shifted to Sassoon General Hospital if the treatment cost exceeds that amount at a private hospital.

He said the project was aimed at saving the life of a road accident victim. “At least seven-eight accidents occur every day and at least one or two of them are critical. By allocating a fund of Rs 10,000,at least the basic requirements like first aid,CT scan,MRI and other investigations can be taken care of at a private hospital. If the patient has suffered a serious head injury,then the scheme will ensure that he/she gets immediate medical treatment and his/her life is saved. The patient can later be shifted to Sassoon General Hospital or any other hospital where he/she can afford the medical treatment.”

Over the years,several meetings were held to discuss the treatment of road accident victims,to understand the practical problems being faced by the treating hospitals and to find out solutions. Since hospitals did not have the necessary funds to treat such victims,the IMA had collaborated with the PMC to embark on this project.

Meanwhile,a recent IMA meeting on patients’ rights has urged private hospitals to adopt a more humanitarian approach to patients. It deliberated on issues like providing detailed information about surgeries to patients,taking his/her informed consent,not disclosing the HIV status of a patient and the like. “We will be discussing these and other issues with private hospital authorities,” Agharkhedkar said.