The central government, under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, has launched the PM RAHAT (Road Accident Victim Hospitalisation and Assured Treatment) scheme to provide cashless and immediate treatment to road accident victims. The scheme was approved by the Prime Minister after the recent shift to the Seva Teerth building complex.
According to data tabled by MoRTH in Lok Sabha in the recent parliament session, the total accidents and deaths reported on national highways in 2025 were 1,34,307 and 57,482, respectively.
Here’s everything that you need to know about the new PM RAHAT scheme: –
- As mentioned above, this scheme aims to provide timely medical support to road accident victims.
- Accident victims, Good Samaritans (rah-veer) or any person at the accident site can contact the ERSS by dialling 112. Then ERSS operators will help the caller with details on the nearest hospital and dispatch an ambulance to reach the accident site.
- This will also enable a rapid coordination between emergency responders, police authorities and hospitals.
- As per the press release, every eligible road accident victim will be provided a cashless treatment of up to Rs 1.5 lakh for period of 7 days from the date of accident. This will also include up to 24 hours of stabilization treatment in non-life-threatening cases and up to 48 hours in life threatening cases, subject to a mandatory police authentication on an integrated digital system.
- Reimbursement to hospitals will be made through the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVAF).
- In cases where the offending vehicle is insured, payment will be collected from contributions made by the insurance company.
- In uninsured and hit-&-run cases, payment will be made through budgetary allocation by the Government of India.
- This cahless process follws an integrated digital process, which involves the integration of the National Health Authority’s Transaction Management System (TMS 2.0) software and MoRTH’s Electronic Detailed Accident Report (eDAR) platform. This will link all critical aspects of RAHAT, including accident reporting, hospitalisation, police authentication, medical treatment, claim processing and final payment.
- Claims approved by the State Health Agency will be paid to the concerned hospital within 10 days. Government believes that this will encourage uninterrupted treatment.
- Any grievances of road accident victims will be addressed by a Grievance Redressal Officer nominated by the District Road Safety Committee chaired by the District Collector / District Magistrate / Deputy Commissioner, ensuring accountability at the district level.
According to the studies, it has been found that nearly 50% of accident fatalities are preventable with timely medical intervention in the first golden hour. And with the PM RAHAT scheme, integrated with the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) 112 helpline, the government aims to achieve this.
