The government has decided to partner with two private hospitals with trauma care facilities outside the state for free treatment of injured persons in the first 48 hours of road accident. Besides, some more private hospitals in Bhubaneswar and one in Rourkela have been empanelled by the government to provide free treatment to accident victims under the Free Treatment for Trauma Fund (FTTF) scheme. Earlier, only three hospitals in the state Apollo and AMRI Hospitals in Bhubaneswar and Ashwini Hospital in Cuttack were partnered by the government under the FTTF scheme.
FTTF scheme has been operational since October 2019. While the transport department used to provide the funds for free treatment of the accident victims in private hospitals, the Health department will now foot the bills. The government has sanctioned Rs 147.2 crore for five years for the FTTF scheme from the state budget, a senior transport official said. As per the new guidelines, an FTTF technical committee has been formed to look into different issues of treatment and its cost, which would be reimbursed by the government. An FTTF cell will function in the office of the DMET to supervise, regulate and coordinate the smooth functioning of the scheme.