New Delhi: The Supreme Court has ruled that trauma care is an integral part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution, issuing a slew of directions to states and union territories to overhaul the country's emergency response infrastructure.
A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and AS Chandurkar directed all states and UTs to complete the technical and operational integration of all emergency and ambulance helplines into the unified Helpline 112 within three months. The court also ordered the operationalisation of the PM RAHAT cashless treatment scheme and the setting up of functional Good Samaritan grievance redressal systems with designated nodal authorities at the state and district levels.
The Centre, states and UTs were further directed to launch sustained, multilingual mass-media campaigns within one month, covering Helpline 112, Good Samaritan protections under Section 134A of the Motor Vehicles Act and grievance redressal obligations. The Union Health Ministry was given eight weeks to issue guidelines prescribing a standard data format for a trauma registry.
“Swiftness is quite literally, like medicine,” the bench observed, noting that bystanders often suffer reactive paralysis due to fear of legal consequences or the psychological weight of witnessing an accident.
The directions came while hearing a petition by the SaveLIFE Foundation, which had sought recognition of trauma care as a justiciable right under Indian public law. The matter will be taken up again after four months.