NHAI, on Friday, entered into an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with HLL Lifecare, a public sector undertaking under the ministry of health and family welfare (MoH&FW).
“This unique collaboration between two government organizations underlines NHAI’s focus to enhance the incident management system and provide timely assistance to accident victims,” the ministry of road transport and highways said, adding this arrangement will play a prominent role in providing immediate medical assistance and save precious lives on the national highways across the country.
As per the road ministry data, 4,61,312 road accidents occurred in India in 2022 resulting in 1,68,491 deaths and injuries to 4,43,366 people, a year-on-year increase of 11.9%, 9.4% and 5.3% respectively as compared to 2021.
Under the MoU, HLL Lifecare will help NHAI to strengthen its existing system by providing ambulances, route patrol vans and cranes, real time tracking, and supportive supervision.
“This will improve response time and facilitate referral of accident victims to the nearest health facilities, establishing a seamless process for incident management,” the ministry said in a statement.Further, it will include operation and management of trauma centres or emergency stabilization centers to maximize assistance during the golden hour and improve health outcomes besides strengthening services provided through national highway toll free helpline number to improve response time.‘In addition, HLL Lifecare will provide services for comprehensive geo-tagging, mapping and engagement of health facilities and trauma centres across national highways to enhance the emergency medical response by linking health facilities with ambulances.
As per the statement, HLL Lifecare will create a blueprint for investment on trauma centres along national highways and also operationalize and manage state-of-art ambulance services, equipped with improvised ‘basic life support’ at select locations.
Besides, HLL Lifecare will undertake training and orientation of the toll plaza staff on new initiates and provide basic life support and undertake health screening for truckers and highway users such as eye test, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and oral cancer screening at laybys and wayside amenities will also be organized.
“A technical support unit will also be established to provide supervision to various initiatives and coordinate with concerned NHAI officials for trouble shooting and effective implementation,” it added.
