Every person injured in a road accident involving a motor vehicle is entitled to free hospital treatment in India, up to Rs 1.5 lakh per victim for a maximum of seven days from the date of the accident, on any category of road. That entitlement is not new in law: it follows from Section 162 read with Section 215 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, which makes it mandatory for hospitals to treat road accident victims without payment for that period. What is new is the scheme built to make it work. The Cashless Treatment of Road Accident Victims Scheme, 2025 was notified on May 5, 2025, guidelines followed on June 4, 2025, it was launched for nationwide implementation on February 13, 2026, and it was named the Prime Minister Road Accident Victims' Hospitalisation and Assured Treatment, or PM-RAHAT, scheme on February 19, 2026.

Method and data basis

Takeaway and eligibility figures here come from the scheme and its guidelines as placed before Parliament, and from a Lok Sabha answer that reports 22,481 victims receiving free treatment across 34 states and union territories as on July 31, 2026. Progress figures come from a Road Transport Ministry review reported on September 29, which put treated victims at close to 25,000 over the past eight months with hospitals reimbursed in nearly 13,000 cases. The gap between the two is the operational fact worth holding on to: treatment is being given at scale, and payment to hospitals is still catching up.

What the scheme actually gives you

  • Cashless, up to Rs 1.5 lakh per victim, for up to seven days. The cap is cumulative across hospitals for that victim. Any nationality, any road, no means test.
  • Stabilisation even at a hospital that is not on the list. Non-designated hospitals must stabilise a victim for up to 24 hours in non-life-threatening cases and up to 48 hours in life-threatening ones, and then transfer. Hospitals empanelled under Ayushman Bharat are treated as designated automatically; states may designate more.
  • It does not depend on having insurance. The Motor Vehicle Accident Fund has separate accounts for insured vehicles, for uninsured or hit-and-run cases and for hit-and-run compensation, administered by the General Insurance Council. A victim with no policy is not excluded. If you are covered by another central or state scheme for similar benefits, that scheme is used first.
  • A time limit that catches families out. The guidelines treat a first hospitalisation that begins more than 24 hours after the accident as outside the scheme. Speed is the entitlement.

How to claim it at a hospital counter

  • Say the words: cashless treatment for a road accident victim under PM-RAHAT, and ask for admission under the scheme rather than a deposit.
  • Give the accident details and the vehicle registration if you have it. The process is digital, linking the police accident report with the health authority's transaction system, so details are matched rather than argued.
  • Expect parallel police authentication: within 24 hours for non-life-threatening cases and 48 hours for life-threatening ones, with life-threatening cases eligible until police rejection or 48 hours, whichever is earlier.
  • Do not sign a demand for an advance until the hospital has confirmed whether the case is covered under the scheme. If you are asked to pay, ask for the reason in writing and the scheme grievance officer, who is appointed by the district road safety committee for every district.
  • If the answer is unsatisfactory, escalate to the district collector and then to the state road safety council, which is the appellate authority for the scheme.

How it differs from the cover you already have

PM-RAHAT pays hospital bills for a limited period after an accident, whoever caused it. Personal accident cover pays a fixed sum on accidental death or disablement. Motor third-party liability pays the people you injured. None of the three substitutes for the others, and a road accident victim who is not at fault has no claim against anyone under motor law, which is exactly the gap this scheme fills. The rationale is time rather than money: the Law Commission's 201st report of 2006 noted that at least half of road accident fatalities can be averted if victims are admitted within the golden hour, and the Supreme Court's ruling in Parmanand Katara of 1988 established the duty to admit and treat without delay.

Action

Two things. First, know that the entitlement exists and say so early, because the difference between a free admission and a five-figure deposit is often the first hour. Second, keep a copy of the accident details, the FIR or e-report number and the hospital receipt, because hospital reimbursement, not your treatment, is where the scheme is currently weakest. If you drive or ride, carry the vehicle number: it is the single most useful fact at the counter. If your family relies on an accident cover or an employer policy for hospital costs after a week, check the sum insured and the exclusions now, because this scheme stops at seven days and Rs 1.5 lakh.

Watch item: the reimbursement rate for hospitals. With about 13,000 of nearly 25,000 cases reimbursed as of the September review, faster hospital payment is the change most likely to determine how quickly the scheme becomes normal practice rather than a negotiation at the counter.