The National Highway Authority of India has mandated that ambulances deployed on all of its projects must reach crash sites within 10 minutes when the incident is within 10 km of toll booths, failing which a ₹ 10,000 penalty will be imposed for each delay. The authority has also set a one-hour limit for accident victims to reach the nearest hospital after an emergency ticket is accepted, with a ₹ 10,000 penalty for every delay.
The circular also notes that the delay in response to accidents has been flagged by the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety and in a performance audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. An additional ₹ 5,000 penalty will apply for every extra minute or part thereof. Under the new norms announced on Wednesday, ambulance movement after an emergency ticket is accepted must take less than two minutes, with the movement to be verified through GPS data and the IMS (Intelligent Medical Software) Care dashboard.
