Hospitals cannot refuse or delay treatment of road accident victims: Allahabad HC

Lucknow: Hospitals and doctors cannot refuse or delay treatment to someone injured in a road accident on the ground that medico-legal formalities or police procedures have not been completed, the Allahabad High Court said on Friday.

A Lucknow bench of Justices Rajan Roy and Manjive Shukla passed the order on a public interest litigation filed by Anju Prakash Srivastava in 2000.

The court directed the Uttar Pradesh government to file its counter-affidavit within 10 days, detailing the steps taken to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court’s directions and the guidelines issued by the Centre regarding treatment of road accident victims, according to PTI.

The bench expressed displeasure that the state had failed to file its counter-affidavit for more than 25 years. It hence directed the state to pay Rs 25,000 as costs to the petitioner, who has been pursuing the litigation since 2000. The matter will next be heard on October 1.

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The court said that every doctor has a professional obligation to protect human life and provide immediate medical care to an injured person, irrespective of whether the person was at fault in the accident. 

The bench further said that procedural requirements cannot come in the way of this paramount obligation.

The PIL was filed in 2000 and included a photograph of a prominent hospital in Lucknow. The photograph showed a notice displayed on the hospital facade stating that medico-legal cases, including burn and accident cases, were not treated there.

The petitioner had relied on the photograph to highlight alleged non-compliance with the Supreme Court’s directions.

During the hearing, the state referred to the Supreme Court’s 2016 judgment in Savelife Foundation and the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on May 12, 2015, for protection of good samaritans.

The guidelines state that failure by a doctor to respond in an emergency arising from a road accident, where the doctor is expected to provide care, may constitute professional misconduct and disciplinary action can be taken against the doctor, reports PTI.

The guidelines also require hospitals to display a charter at their entrances, in Hindi, English and the local language, stating that a bystander or good samaritan who brings an injured person to the hospital should not be detained or asked to deposit money for the victim’s treatment. The guidelines are applicable to both public and private hospitals.

The High Court further directed the state government to disclose in its affidavit the mechanism in place to monitor compliance with these directions, details of inspections of hospitals, the system for receiving and redressing complaints regarding violations, and, as far as possible, district-wise details of complaints received.

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