Karnataka becomes first state to give legal protection to those who help accidents victims

Agencies
September 30, 2018

New Delhi, Sept 30: President Ram Nath Kovind has given assent to a bill which will give legal protection to the good samaritans in Karnataka who help accidents victims with emergency medical care within the 'golden hour', officials said Sunday.

With this, Karnataka has become the first state to give legal protection to good samaritans through a legislation amidst the rising incidents of accidental deaths in India, which saw 1,50,785 people getting killed in road accidents in 2016.

The Karnataka Good Samaritan and Medical Professional (Protection and Regulation during Emergency Situations) Bill, 2016, aims to give protection to good samaritans and ensure immediate medical assistance for road accident victims within the 'golden hour' and encourage people to offer first aid to victims without fear of harassment in the hands of police and investigations.

In medical term the 'golden hour' is the first hour after a traumatic injury when emergency treatment is very crucial.

Under the new law, the Karnataka government will provide financial help to good samaritans who help victims in a timely manner, they will be exempted from repeated attendance in courts and police stations, in case attendance is mandatory, expenses of such "running around to courts and police stations" will be taken care through the proposed 'Good Samaritan Fund'.

After admitting the accident victim to the hospital, the good samaritan can leave immediately, all government, as well as private hospitals, are bound to give first aid to the accident victims, according to the new legislation.

Another official said there have been many instances when people get busy in clicking photos or making videos of the victims, instead of providing the accident victims medical help.

"With the new law, there will be clear message that good samaritans will not be harassed in any manner," the official said.

There were 4,80,652 road accidents in the country in 2016 in which 1,50,785 people were killed. In 2015, there were 5,01,423 road accidents in the country in which 1,46,133 people were killed.

Karnataka is one of the top five states which saw a large number of people getting killed in road accidents in 2016 and 2015.

There is no central law to protect the good samaritans. However, the Union Surface Transport Ministry had issued a set of guidelines in 2015 following a Supreme Court order to protect the good samaritans.

Also Read: Karnataka Government plans award to honour people who save accident victims

Comments

Ramprasad
 - 
Sunday, 30 Sep 2018

Should offer some money too. Then people may come as queue for helping

Suresh
 - 
Sunday, 30 Sep 2018

Many people including me hesitated to do help for accidents people  only because of the fear of facing legal sides/police procedings if anything happen to the victim

Rahul
 - 
Sunday, 30 Sep 2018

Loud applouse for Karnataka govt. This help to overcome the fear of offering help.

Danish
 - 
Sunday, 30 Sep 2018

Great initiative. People wont hesitate to help accident victims

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 29,2020

Kochi, Feb 29: A 36-year-old man admitted to a government hospital here died early on Saturday due to high fever, health officials said.

The test results of blood samples of the man admitted to the isolation ward of the Coronavirus patients at Kalamassery Medical College hospital had confirmed that he was not infected with the deadly virus, doctors said.

He had been suffering from pneumonia for last five days, they said.

He was a diabetic too. His end came at 12.30 am due to multi organ failure, they said.

Medical authorities said his samples have been sent for detailed examination at the NiV lab at Alappuzha and awaiting the results.

The man from Kannur district had returned from Malaysia on Friday with high fever and breathing problem.

He was referred to the hospital after he was diagnosed with serious health issues during a thermal screening for Coronavirus at the international airport here upon his arrival from Malaysia, they said.

Doctors had said the health condition of the patient was not satisfactory.

Ernakulam District Collector S Suhas had visited the patient at the hospital on Friday, officials said.

Kerala had reported India's three Coronavirus cases but all three had been discharged from the hospitals marking their recovery of all three cases of infection in India reported from Kerala.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
February 6,2020

Wuhan, Feb 6: Chinese multinational conglomerate holding company Tencent has allegedly published "real" data on the novel coronavirus deaths, with briefly listing death toll as 24,589 -- way too higher than over 500 deaths China has officially announced to date.

According to Taiwan News, "Tencent... seems to have inadvertently released what is potentially the actual number of infections and deaths, which were astronomically higher than official figures".

Tencent, on its webpage titled "Epidemic Situation Tracker," showed confirmed cases of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China as standing at 154,023 - over 10 times the official figure given to the world on February 1.

Data leaked: Tencent lists 25,000 deaths in China, 1.54 lakh infections from coronavirus
It listed the number of suspected cases as 79,808, four times the official figure.

"The number of cured cases was only 269, well below the official number that day of 300. Most ominously, the death toll listed was 24,589, vastly higher than the 300 officially listed that day".

Once people noticed this, Tencent immediately updated the numbers to reflect the government's "official" numbers.

"Netizens noticed that Tencent has on at least three occasions posted extremely high numbers, only to quickly lower them to government-approved statistics," said the report.

Some people speculated a coding problem may be behind the real "internal" data but others believe that someone is actually trying to reveal the real numbers.

Tencent was yet to officially comment on these reports.

"According to multiple sources in Wuhan, many coronavirus patients are unable to receive treatment and die outside of hospitals."

There have been multiple reports of Wuhan officials cremating deceased coronavirus victims before they could be added to the official death toll.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the coronavirus numbers coming out of China are "fishy".

If the numbers from the alleged Tencent leak are accurate, it would put coronavirus' mortality rate at almost 16 per cent. By comparison, SARS' mortality rate was 9.6 per cent, reports CCN.

Caijing, an independent magazine based in Beijing that covers societal, political, and economic issues, has also claimed that the Communist Party of China (CCP) is underreporting the extent of the coronavirus outbreak.

Caijing's article on Coronavirus that detailed how Wuhan officials are not reporting real figures was censored in China.

As of Thursday, the official death toll in China rose to 563, with 28,018 confirmed cases.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 17,2020

Bengaluru, May 17: Karnataka on Sunday extended lockdown for two days until midnight of Tuesday, May 19. Earlier today, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra extended the lockdown till May 31. The state government said that the guidelines and norms as followed during Coronavirus Lockdown 3 will remain in place till 19th midnight or till further notice.

Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus cases in Karnataka rose to 1,146 on Saturday. With 37 deaths and 497 discharges, there are 611 active corona cases in the state. 

Out of 54 new cases, twentytwo are from Mandya, ten from Kalaburagi, six from Hassan, four from Dharwad, three each from Yadgir and Kolar, two each from Dakshina Kannada and Shivamogga, and one each from Udupi and Vijayapura.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.