NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said over 3,000 lives were saved during the pilot of the Good Samaritan Policy under ‘Farishte Dilli Ke’, an initiative of the Delhi government to bear the cost of treatment for all road accident victims regardless of how expensive the treatment or hospital is and to felicitate good samaritans who take accident victims to hospitals.
He also launched the scheme formally at Maulana Azad Medical College and honoured a few of the 3,000 such people who came forward to help those injured in road accidents.“The scheme was launched 1.5 years ago on a pilot basis. We wanted to see the issues related to the scheme before we launched it in full,” Kejriwal said.
Stating that the scheme was launched for public service and not for politics, Kejriwal said “It has been observed by medical experts that the ‘Golden Hour’ — the first one hour after an accident— is the most crucial in case of a fatality. Our government has made it very easy for anyone to help a victim there should be no hindrance in this matter by the police and the hospital administration” said the CM addressing the crowd during the event.
Health Minister Satyendar Jain informed that the person helping the victim need not worry about any payments to the hospitals. “The entire expense from transportation to treatment charges and ambulance charges will be provided by the Delhi government for the victim. The Farishte just need to help. We appeal to everyone do not hesitate from helping others” said Jain.
In order to motivate more people to join the Good Samaritan scheme, an amount of Rs 2,000 is offered to the person helping out any victims of acid attack, burn and accident within geographical limit of Delhi.