The Supreme Court of India has held that the right to trauma care forms a vital part of the right to life, highlighting the urgent need for systemic intervention and a nationwide trauma-care framework and Good Samaritan reforms.
Supreme Court of India observed that the right to trauma care is an essential component of the right to life, stressing the urgent need for systemic intervention, a uniform nationwide trauma-care framework, and effective Good Samaritan legislation.
The apex court issued a series of interim directions. It asked all states and Union territories to complete full technical and operational integration of all emergency or ambulance helplines with Helpline 112 within three months, carry out simultaneous mass-media publicity for the helpline, and submit reports on compliance.
A bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and A S Chandurkar further directed states and Union territories to set up functional (both physical and digital) Good Samaritan grievance redressal mechanisms, with designated nodal authorities at the state and district levels, within three months.
The bench also required periodic compliance reports by holding monthly meetings and uploading the minutes on the relevant portals.
The order was passed while dealing with a plea filed by Savelife Foundation, which sought recognition of trauma care as a matter of right within India’s public law framework.
The court stated that when a person suffers an accident or a similar incident requiring urgent trauma care, they typically experience shock and disorientation, along with a sense of helplessness, hoping that people around them will somehow provide the care they need.
It said,
“In such a situation, every minute spent without medical intervention or urgent care significantly narrows the scope for survival. Swiftness, is quite literally, like medicine,”
Highlighting the different stages of care following such incidents, the bench said the trauma care system must adopt a bottom-up approach, considering the roles and responsibilities of multiple stakeholders.
It noted that, despite the strong desire to help, bystanders often hesitate, experience a kind of reactive paralysis sometimes due to fear of legal proceedings, including being summoned to a police station as a witness and sometimes because of the psychological burden of the situation itself.
The bench said,
“To address these barriers, what is required is a systemic intervention, creation of a uniform framework for trauma care, building public awareness, standardization of first aid skills and proper good samaritan laws; since right to trauma care of citizens is an integral part of right to life enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,”
The court allowed the Centre to issue a medical rescue protocol for trauma cases within three months and directed states and Union territories to operationalize the protocol within three months from its issuance.
It said,
“All states/UTs shall ensure full automative industry standard-125 (AIS-125) compliance across all registered ambulances (public and private); mandate Global Positioning System (GPS)/vehicle location tracking device (VLTD) fitment and real-time integration with helpline 112; and conduct periodic structured audits (response times, quality of care, equipment, outcomes) with compliance reporting to a designated union-level authority, within a period of three months,”
The bench asked the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to release guidelines on the required data format for a trauma registry within eight weeks.
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It said states and Union territories must establish state trauma registries in line with these guidelines covering all medical facilities and link them to a coordinated trauma registry within four months.
The Bench said, and listed the case for further hearing after four months,
“In addition to the above, all states and UTs that have not yet adopted the cashless treatment of road accident victims scheme, 2025 PM RAHAT, shall take necessary steps to fully operationalize the said schemes within a period of three months…,”
Along with other interim measures, the bench directed the Centre, states, and Union territories to run sustained, structured, multilingual mass-media campaigns covering Helpline 112, Good Samaritan protection under Section 134A of the Motor Vehicles Act, the grievance redressal system, and the cashless treatment scheme (PM RAHAT), along with specified obligations and compliance reporting within one month.