PM-RAHAT Cashless Treatment Scheme for Road Accident Victims (Kerala)

What is PM-RAHAT?

PM-RAHAT is the Government of India's cashless treatment scheme for road accident victims, implemented in Kerala through the Motor Vehicles Department of the Transport Department together with government hospitals under the Health and Family Welfare Department. PM-RAHAT pays for the first, most expensive hours of trauma care so that a family does not have to find cash at a casualty counter while a relative is bleeding.

The scheme rests on the duty, written into the Motor Vehicles Act, that a road accident victim must receive cashless treatment. Under PM-RAHAT the treating hospital provides trauma care up to Rs 1.5 lakh per victim for a maximum of 7 days from the date of the accident, and then recovers that money from the government instead of billing the patient.

Kerala began implementing PM-RAHAT at Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram on 17 July 2026, with the Transport Department meeting the cost of the treatment and of the reporting infrastructure the hospital needs. The Transport Department has said the scheme will be extended to more hospitals, and that empanelling private hospitals is under consideration.

What PM-RAHAT changes in practice

• A road accident victim is treated first and the paperwork follows, rather than the other way round.
• The hospital is paid by the government, so the family is not asked for an advance deposit for covered trauma care.
• Coverage is universal. There is no BPL card test, no income ceiling and no requirement that the victim hold any insurance policy.

Who is covered by PM-RAHAT and who is not eligible?

You are covered if:

• You are injured in a road accident caused by the use of a motor vehicle on a road in India. This is the only substantive test.
• You are treated at a hospital that is implementing PM-RAHAT. In Kerala this started with Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram and is being extended.
• The accident is reported to the police and entered in the government's online accident reporting system.

There is no income limit, no age limit, no family-size limit and no residence requirement. A visitor from another state or another country injured on a Kerala road is covered on the same terms as a resident. A pedestrian, a motorcycle pillion rider, a cyclist hit by a car and a passenger in a bus are all "road accident victims" for this purpose. Even the driver at fault is a victim for the purposes of emergency treatment.

You cannot claim under PM-RAHAT if:

• The injury did not arise from a road accident involving a motor vehicle. A fall at home, an industrial accident or an assault is not eligible.
• The treatment is sought after the 7-day window has closed, or after the Rs 1.5 lakh ceiling for that accident has been exhausted.
• The hospital is not implementing the scheme. A private hospital that has not been empanelled cannot bill the government under PM-RAHAT.
• The case was never reported to the police, so there is no accident record to attach the claim to.

PM-RAHAT is also not a compensation scheme. It pays hospitals for treatment. It does not pay the family cash for loss of income, disability or death, which is a separate matter under motor accident claims law and the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal.

How to get PM-RAHAT treatment in Kerala

PM-RAHAT is not a scheme you sign up for in advance. The steps below are what a family or a bystander should actually do at the time of the accident.

1. Call 112 and get the injured person to hospital. Do not wait at the scene for police clearance. The law protects good samaritans who take an accident victim to hospital.
2. Tell the casualty desk clearly that this is a road traffic accident and ask for the case to be registered under PM-RAHAT. Use the words "road accident" so the case is entered as a medico-legal case from the start.
3. Make sure the police are informed and an FIR or accident report is registered. Kerala's Transport Department has stated that accident details must be uploaded within 24 hours of the incident, with a 48-hour window in minor injury cases.
4. Let the hospital upload the case on the central accident reporting system. The hospital enters the admission details and the police entry validates that a road accident took place.
5. Do not pay cash for covered trauma care. If a payment is demanded, ask the Medical Superintendent to confirm the PM-RAHAT registration first.
6. Keep copies of the FIR, the admission slip and the discharge summary. These are the documents you will need if the claim is queried, and later if you file a motor accident compensation claim.

How much does PM-RAHAT pay and for how long?

PM-RAHAT covers up to Rs 1.5 lakh per accident victim for a maximum of 7 days from the date of the accident. Both limits apply together: the money stops when either the amount or the seven days runs out, whichever comes first.

The benefit is designed around the trauma "golden hour" and the first week of stabilisation. It typically covers emergency room care, imaging, surgery, intensive care, implants used in the initial procedure, medicines and hospital accommodation for that period. Rehabilitation, later reconstructive surgery and long-term physiotherapy fall outside the window.

For treatment beyond the PM-RAHAT limits, Kerala patients usually fall back on Karunya Arogya Suraksha Padhathi (KASP), which gives eligible families Rs 5 lakh a year of secondary and tertiary hospitalisation cover, or on MEDISEP if the patient is a state government employee or pensioner.

How is a PM-RAHAT claim processed?

PM-RAHAT runs on a digital chain rather than a paper file:

1. The police record of the accident establishes that a road accident occurred and identifies the victim.
2. The hospital record establishes admission, treatment and the date and time from which the 7-day clock runs.
3. The two are matched on the government's online accident and treatment management system, and the hospital's bill for the covered period is reimbursed from government funds.

Because the whole chain is electronic, the two things that go wrong are almost always at the start: the accident was never reported to the police, or the hospital did not enter the case within the reporting window. Both are fixable only in the first day or two, which is why families should insist on the FIR immediately rather than after discharge.

Why PM-RAHAT claims fail, and how to avoid it

• No FIR or police accident report. Without a police record the case cannot be validated. Insist on it on day one.
• Late upload. Kerala's Transport Department has specified upload within 24 hours, with 48 hours allowed in minor injury cases.
• Case registered as a general injury, not a road traffic accident. Say "road accident" at the casualty desk and check the medico-legal entry.
• Treatment at a hospital not implementing PM-RAHAT. In the early phase of Kerala's rollout, coverage is limited. Ask before shifting a stable patient.
• Treatment continued past 7 days under the same claim. Move the patient to KASP, MEDISEP or another route before the window closes rather than after.

Where to complain if PM-RAHAT is refused

• Emergency number 112 for the accident itself and for police reporting.
• Hospital Medical Superintendent. The first escalation if a hospital refuses cashless registration.
• District Regional Transport Office (RTO) of the Kerala Motor Vehicles Department, which administers the scheme in the state. Office contacts are listed at mvd.kerala.gov.in.
• State Motor Vehicles Department headquarters, Thiruvananthapuram, for written grievances that the district office does not settle.

PM-RAHAT costs the patient nothing. No agent, no hospital employee and no police officer can charge a fee to "get PM-RAHAT approved" — the registration is done by the hospital on a government system, free of charge.

How PM-RAHAT differs from Kerala's other health schemes

PM-RAHAT is narrow and automatic. It applies only to road accidents, only for seven days, and it needs no card, no enrolment and no income proof. KASP is the opposite: it applies to a long list of illnesses and procedures, gives Rs 5 lakh a year, but only to the bottom 40 per cent of Kerala families who are already on the beneficiary list. The Karunya Benevolent Fund sits somewhere between, funded from Kerala lottery proceeds for serious ailments in families earning under Rs 3 lakh a year.

A road accident victim in Kerala can therefore be covered by PM-RAHAT for the first week and by KASP for what follows, provided the family is on the KASP list. Families should ask the hospital's scheme desk to check both, because the two are administered by different arms of the government and neither is applied automatically to the other's cases.