Chandigarh, March 4 -- To ensure road accident victims don't lose out on the crucial "golden hour" treatment due to financial hurdles, all government and private hospitals in Chandigarh will now be providing cashless treatment of up to Rs.1.5 lakh for the first seven days. This is part of the Centre's Prime Minister's Road Accident Victim Hospitalisation and Assured Treatment (PM RAHAT) scheme, launched in February. The scheme has already been implemented at Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, and will be enforced in all government hospitals soon. Private hospitals, particularly those with trauma facilities, are also being empanelled. Director health services Dr Suman Singh said the department will soon hold meetings with private hospitals to expand coverage. All road accident victims, irrespective of their place of residence, are entitled under the scheme. The initiative is being implemented in coordination with the police and health departments. Upon receiving information about an accident, police will upload details on the e-Detailed Accident Report (e-DAR) portal to generate a victim ID. The portal, developed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, will be linked to the National Health Authority's Transaction Management System (TMS) 2.0. Hospitals will generate a patient ID on TMS, which will also handle treatment claims, similar to the Ayushman Bharat scheme. To ensure round-the-clock access, the department plans to hire two additional data entry operators to manage case registrations on the portal across three shifts. Officials said a one-year pilot project was conducted in Chandigarh from August 2024 to September 2025 before the formal rollout. During the pilot, 32 accident cases were registered, with treatment costs reaching up to Rs.9 lakh. As many as 10 private hospitals with trauma facilities participated in the trial. Doctors say the scheme will improve a patient's survival chances. "Time is the most crucial factor in an accident victim's recovery. The first hour after an accident is the golden hour. Many patients lose their lives due to blood loss caused by late arrival at the hospital. This scheme will accelerate treatment in those critical hours," said Dr Vishal Kumar, nodal officer at the Advanced Trauma Centre, PGI. Officials believe that move will also encourage people to report such cases to hospitals as they will no longer have to worry about immediate medical expenses. At present, GMSH-16 receives at least one road accident case daily in its emergency wing, while PGI's Advanced Trauma Centre admits around 50 patients a day, majority of them road accident victims, along with cases such as falls and machine injuries. As per police data, in the first two months alone, Chandigarh has seen 23 road accident fatalities. Last year, the figure stood at 81....