Let us be human

I happened to read about a road accident in the front page of today's ( 27th May 08) Malayalam News Paper Mathrubhumi .

Road accidents keep happening and you may be wondering why something special about this ?
Read on ...

The news goes like this. In Kottayam , a couple travelling by two wheeler were knocked down by a KSRTC bus. The man was thrown to one side , but survived with minor injuries where as the bus ran over his wife and she got severely injured. The man somehow managed to reach to the spot where his wife was lying on the road. He pleaded for help to the passengers of all the vehicles that passed by . But none bothered about taking them to hospital. Finally after waiting for half an hour , the police reached with ambulance and took them to hospital. The lady , 27 years old , died in the hospital. The man was discharged since he was having only minor injuries. The couple has a small boy. Can any one of us imagine how much that man would have cried and pleaded to take his wife to the hospital ? It is said that if she were rushed to the hospital immediately after the incident , the hospital people probably could have saved her life.

Why everybody who passed by hesitated to take the accident victims to hospital ? It may be , may be because that one cannot just come out after reaching the victim to the hospital. He/she may have to find out his relatives ,contact them , anwer the questions of the police etc etc. But , isnt it that human life is precious than anything else in this world ?

It reminded me about a group mail I received on the supreme court judgement "Right to Emergency ' . I have pasted the copy of mail below.

The Supreme Court in a judgement on Right to Emergency Care, case no Appeal (civil) 919 of 2007 of 23 Feb 2007, has ruled that all injured persons especially in the case of road traffic accidents, assaults, etc., when brought to a hospital or medical centre, have to be offered first aid, stabilized and shifted to a higher centre / government centre if required. It is only after this that the hospital can demand payment or complete police formalities.
In case you are a bystander and wish to help someone in an accident, please go ahead and do so. Your responsibility ends as soon as you leave the person at the hospital. The hospital bears the responsibility of informing the police, providing first aid, etc.
Please do inform your family and friends about these basic rights so that we all know what to expect and what to do in the hour of need.

I searched in google to know whether the judgement is correct. Even checked the website of supremcourt . Supreme court has not passed any judgement on this. It was nothing but a rumour.

I went on with my search in google to find out what the law says about such a situation. I could get two things.
1 . A bill passed by Rajyasabha ( http://rajyasabha.nic.in/bills-ls-rs/2006/LXXXIX_%202006.pdf )

Rajya sabha has passed this bill in Nov 2006 to provide for compulsory medical aid to the victims of accidents by private hospitals and medical practioners and for building confidence amongst the members of public to come forward and help the accident victims.

2. A circular whihc I got from the website of "Department of Road , Transport and Highways" of Govt of India. ( http://morth.nic.in/index2.asp?langid=2&sublinkid=119 )

I have copied and pasted below some of the points from the circular just to emphasize on it.

"It has come to notice that on many occasions, the victims of road side accidents remain unattended for a longer time without medical aid or any help from the members of public till the arrival of police at the spot. The members of the public though basically have got an indifferent attitude in such situations, but due to the unnecessary involvement in the accidental cases, they in turn hesitate to remove the injured to the hospitals to which results in the loss of human life and the image of the police fades in the eyes of the public.

2. Keeping in view the unnecessary loss of human life, it becomes imperative to train our police personnel undergoing training in various courses (induct ional and promotional) on the following lines. The police personnel on duty either in police stations or in the hospital should politely put the following questions to the person who brings the injured to the hospital.
(i) Where have you brought this person?
(ii) Do you know anything about the case of the injury of the person?
(iii) May I have your particulars?

3. It is likely that the person would answer the first question, may not have an answer for the second and hesitate to reply the third in which case it should not be insisted upon. The escorters should, under no circumstances, be detained in the hospital for interrogation. On the other hand, he should be treated with courtesy.

4. At times the District Staff and the PCR vans also delay the removal of the injured to the hospital on account of various jurisdictional formalities or other duties regarding photographs etc. Instructions, therefore, need to be re-iterated once again that even a minor delay can mean a question of life or death for the injured. Without waiting for the photographer etc. the injured has to be removed to the hospital by the quickest means. Even in case of fatal accidents the first effort should be to take the injured to the hospital rather than declaring him dead on the spot by the PCR or the District Staff.

5. It is emphasized that the members of the public, who rendered voluntary help to persons injured in accidents, should not unnecessarily be questioned and detained at police stations. It has been observed that these orders are not being complied with.

6. It is, therefore, once again emphasized upon all concerned that people who bring accident victims to hospitals but treated with utmost courtesy and should not be harassed in any way. Even if they are unwilling to give their particulars, the same should not be insisted upon. "

It is also said in the Rajya sabha bill that the Govt shall ensure that the member of the public who reaches the accident victim to the hospital shall be paid the transportation charges incurred.
The legislation on this subject is long overdue and that is the reason that Rajya Sabha has passed this bill in 2006.

I feel that it is the duty of the media too to make public aware of such rules so that the public come forward to help the victims considering the fact that the no of road accidents in India , especially in Kerala is very alarming. ( I have not looked into the statistics of road accidents in India . But , if you look at the road accidents reported in news papers , I feel that it is alarmingly high)

As far as my opinion goes , even if we are unaware of these rules let us extend our help to the unfortunate victims irrespective of the complications involved in it. After all , accidents can happen to any one .

So.............................

Let us be human .