The court docket handed the order on a petition by the Save Life Basis, which raised the necessity for trauma remedy to be acknowledged as a matter of proper in India’s public regulation system. file. |Picture courtesy of The Hindu
Observing {that a} citizen’s proper to trauma care is an integral a part of the correct to life, the Supreme Court docket requested all states and union territories to operationalize emergency helpline quantity 112 inside three months and set up a functioning Good Samaritan grievance redressal system.
Justices JK Maheshwari and AS Chandurkar additionally directed the states to submit common compliance reviews by holding month-to-month conferences and importing the minutes on related portals.
The court docket handed the order on Tuesday (Could 26, 2026) on a petition by Save Life Basis, which raised the necessity to acknowledge trauma remedy as a matter of proper in India’s public regulation system.
The Supreme Court docket mentioned that when an individual suffers an accident or related incident that requires emergency trauma remedy, they sometimes expertise shock, disorientation, and a way of helplessness in having to hope that these round them will in some way assist them get the remedy they want.
“In these conditions, with out medical intervention and emergency remedy, each minute considerably reduces the possibilities of survival. Pace is sort of actually like drugs,” it mentioned.
Referring to the completely different levels of care after such an incident, the court docket mentioned {that a} sturdy mechanism for trauma care must take a “bottom-up strategy” that takes into consideration the varied stakeholders.
The report says that irrespective of how robust the urge to be a Good Samaritan, bystanders sometimes hesitate and turn out to be reactive paralyzed, usually out of worry of litigation or being summoned to a police station as a witness, and typically from the psychological weight of the scenario itself.
“What is required to handle these obstacles is systematic intervention, creation of a uniform framework for trauma care, constructing public consciousness, standardization of first support strategies, and acceptable Good Samaritan legal guidelines, as the correct of the general public to trauma care is an integral a part of the correct to life enshrined in Article 21 of the Structure of India,” the court docket mentioned.
The Heart has licensed issuing medical evacuation protocols for trauma instances inside three months and directed all states and UTs to operationalize the identical inside three months.
“All States/UTs shall guarantee compliance with absolutely automated business normal 125 (AIS-125) in all registered ambulances (private and non-private), mandate World Positioning System (GPS)/Automobile Location Monitoring Gadget (VLTD) tools and real-time integration with helpline 112, conduct common structured audits (response time, high quality of care, tools, outcomes); shall report compliance to designated union-level authorities inside a number of months.”
The court docket requested the Union Ministry of Well being and Household Welfare to concern tips inside eight weeks specifying the info format required for trauma registries.
The report mentioned all states/UTs will set up a compliant state trauma registry, protecting all well being amenities and hyperlink it to the harmonized trauma registry inside 4 months.
In addition to passing different interim instructions, the court docket directed the Heart, states and UTs to hold out a sustained and structured multilingual mass media marketing campaign inside a month protecting helpline 112, safety of fine Samaritans beneath Part 134A of the Motor Autos Act, grievance redressal scheme, cashless processing scheme (PM RAHAT) with prescribed duties and compliance reporting.
“Along with the above, all states and UTs which haven’t but launched the cashless remedy scheme for street accident victims shall be suggested by 2025 – Chief Minister RAHAT shall take vital steps to make the scheme absolutely operational inside three months…” it mentioned, itemizing the problems after 4 months.
