Kerala to float trauma care policy

The Kerala government on Thursday decided to set up a 'trauma care' policy to ensure that both state-run and private sector hospitals do not charge any money for two days from road accident victims.

This was decided at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The meeting was called after a few cases surfaced when patients who got injured in road accidents were not given proper treatment by both the state and privately-run hospitals.

A note issued by Vijayan's office said that the new policy guidelines would soon be ready and it will include specific directions that not a single rupee should be collected from the patient or their relatives.

The government plans to reimburse the cost of the treatment by first paying the hospitals and later getting it back from insurance companies. Vijayan is to call a meeting of officials of all insurance companies to decide on the issue.

--IANS

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