PM RAHAT Scheme 2026: Rs 1.5 Lakh Cashless Accident Cover

Quick answer: PM RAHAT gives anyone injured in a motor-vehicle road accident in India cashless treatment worth up to Rs 1.5 lakh per victim, for up to seven days from the date of the accident, at a designated hospital. It is a statutory scheme under Section 162 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — notified in May 2025 and formally launched by the Prime Minister on 13 February 2026. You do not need a health policy, a motor policy or an income certificate to use it; the hospital is paid from the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund.

What PM RAHAT actually is

The full name is the Prime Minister – Road Accident Victims' Hospitalisation and Assured Treatment Scheme. Much of the confusion online comes from people treating the 2025 notification and the 2026 launch as two different schemes. They are the same one.

It was notified under Section 162 of the Motor Vehicles Act vide S.O. 2015(E) dated 5 May 2025, with guidelines and the implementation SOP following vide S.O. 2489(E) dated 4 June 2025. The Prime Minister launched it on 13 February 2026, and it took the PM-RAHAT name vide S.O. 952(E) dated 19 February 2026.

One line in the Ministry's March 2026 reply to the Rajya Sabha is worth underlining: this scheme takes precedence over any other Central or State-level scheme. If your state runs its own accident-treatment assistance programme, PM RAHAT sits above it.

What you get — the actual numbers

• Rs 1.5 lakh per victim in cashless treatment. Per victim, not per accident — a car with four injured occupants means four entitlements.
• Seven days maximum, counted from the date of the accident, not from the date of admission.
• Any category of road. Highway, state road, district road, city street — the scheme does not distinguish.
• Stabilisation treatment must be given for up to 24 hours in non-life-threatening cases and up to 48 hours in life-threatening cases, subject to police response on the digital system.

Eligibility turns on one thing: being a victim of an accident caused by the use of a motor vehicle. The notified scheme sets no income test, and it does not ask whether you own any insurance.

The first hour: what to actually do

The Ministry's own justification for the scheme is blunt — roughly 50% of road accident deaths could be averted if the victim reaches a hospital within the first hour. Everything in the design points at that window.

1. Dial 112. This is the step most people miss. PM RAHAT is wired into the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS 112). The victim, a bystander, or a Good Samaritan can call 112 to find the nearest designated hospital and request an ambulance. Going to the closest hospital you happen to know is not the same thing as going to a designated one.
2. Get the victim admitted. Treatment is supposed to start immediately, based on the Health Benefit Packages developed by the National Health Authority.
3. Let the hospital open the case on TMS. The hospital generates treatment IDs on the NHA's Transaction Management System (TMS 2.0) and pushes them to the district police through the eDAR platform.
4. Police authentication happens in parallel — not before treatment. Police have up to 24 hours to respond on eDAR, or 48 hours in life-threatening situations, as classified by the hospital administrator.

That fourth point is the one worth remembering. The scheme was built so that care starts while the verification catches up, rather than the other way round.

Which hospitals count as "designated"

Hospitals empanelled under Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY that comply with the NHA's guidelines for this scheme are deemed designated hospitals for PM RAHAT — a large base to start from, with 36,112 hospitals empanelled under AB PM-JAY as on 9 March 2026. States and UTs can onboard additional hospitals under NHA guidelines issued on 20 May 2025.

Being empanelled under PM-JAY is not automatically the same as being live on PM RAHAT in your district, though. Through early 2026 the Ministry was still reviewing state readiness — TMS 2.0 onboarding, PFMS credentials for District Collectors, hospital-network expansion. So call 112 rather than assume.

Who actually pays the hospital

Reimbursement flows through the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVAF), and the source depends on the offending vehicle:

• Offending vehicle insured ? paid from contributions made by general insurance companies, routed via the General Insurance Council.
• Uninsured vehicle, or hit-and-run ? paid through budgetary allocation by the Government of India, routed via District Collectors.

Once the State Health Agency approves a claim, payment must reach the hospital within 10 days. That deadline exists to stop hospitals from quietly refusing scheme cases because they expect to wait months for money.

How this sits alongside your own insurance

PM RAHAT is not a claim on your own health policy. The bill is settled from the MVAF, so your sum insured is not drawn down and your health policy's cashless process is not involved. Nor is it a motor own-damage claim — it pays for treating people, not for repairing vehicles. If you are also planning to claim on your own policies, tell your insurer what was funded under PM RAHAT so the same expense is not submitted twice.

It is also not a substitute for real cover. Rs 1.5 lakh and seven days is emergency stabilisation money, not a serious-trauma budget. A multi-week ICU stay, reconstructive surgery, or months of rehabilitation will run far past it — which is exactly what your own health policy and your motor policy's personal accident cover are for. If you want to understand how your regular cashless claim works, our guide on the cashless and reimbursement claim process walks through it, and the health insurance knowledge hub covers sum insured, room rent and waiting periods.

Two related schemes people confuse with this one

Hit-and-run compensation. Separate from PM RAHAT, the Compensation to Victims of Hit and Run Motor Accidents Scheme, 2022 pays Rs 2 lakh in case of death and Rs 50,000 for grievous hurt, effective 1 April 2022. It replaced the old Solatium Scheme, 1989, and is also funded through the MVAF. Applications go to the Claim Enquiry Officer for the taluka. This is compensation to the victim or legal heirs — not a hospital bill payment.

The Rah-Veer award. The Good Samaritan (Rah-Veer) scheme grants Rs 25,000 to a person who saves the life of a motor-accident victim by giving immediate assistance and getting them to a hospital or trauma centre within the Golden Hour. Claims go through a district committee chaired by the District Magistrate. The point is to remove the old fear that helping a stranger means being dragged into police and hospital hassles.

Neither replaces the compensation a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal may award — our piece on how courts calculate motor accident compensation covers that longer track, and third-party insurance rules explains the liability cover behind it.

If a hospital refuses or the process stalls

The scheme has a defined escalation ladder, which is useful to know at the moment you need it:

• District level — a Grievance Redressal Officer appointed by the District Road Safety Committee is the first point of contact.
• Then the District Collector, who chairs that committee.
• Then the State Road Safety Council, the nodal agency for the scheme in each state or UT.
• Nationally, an Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee oversees implementation.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to own insurance to get PM RAHAT treatment?

No. Eligibility depends on being injured in an accident involving a motor vehicle, not on holding any policy. Whether the offending vehicle was insured only changes who reimburses the hospital — you, as the patient, are treated cashless either way.

Does the seven-day limit start from admission or from the accident?

From the date of the accident. If admission is delayed by a day, that day still counts against the seven.

What if treatment costs more than Rs 1.5 lakh?

PM RAHAT covers up to Rs 1.5 lakh. Beyond that, costs fall to your own health insurance, a personal accident policy, PM-JAY if you are an eligible beneficiary, or out of pocket — which is precisely why the scheme should not be treated as a reason to skip health cover.

Is a pillion rider or pedestrian covered?

The scheme covers all victims of road accidents caused by the use of motor vehicles, on any category of road. It is framed around the victim, not around who was driving.

Will using PM RAHAT affect my no-claim bonus?

PM RAHAT is not lodged as a claim on an individual motor or health policy — the hospital is reimbursed from the MVAF pool. If your NCB matters to you and you are also considering a separate claim on your own policy, confirm the position with your insurer before filing.

Is the scheme live everywhere in India right now?

It is a nationwide statutory scheme, and the Ministry told Parliament in March 2026 that the eDAR–TMS 2.0 system had been implemented. Practical readiness — which hospitals in your district are onboarded — has been rolling out state by state, so dialling 112 remains the reliable way to find a designated hospital near you.

Sources: Press Information Bureau releases of the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways — "Government Launches PM RAHAT" (14 February 2026), "MoRTH Sensitizes Stakeholders on PM RAHAT" (26 February 2026), and the Minister's written reply in the Rajya Sabha, "PM RAHAT — Cashless Treatment of Road Accident Victims" (11 March 2026), which carries the S.O. notification numbers, the MVAF payment mechanism and the AB PM-JAY empanelment figure. Rah-Veer award details are from the Scheme Guidelines on Rah-Veer published by the Transport Department, Government of Uttarakhand. Hit-and-run compensation figures are from the Compensation to Victims of Hit and Run Motor Accidents Scheme, 2022, notified by MoRTH. NewEdgePolicy is an independent insurance education publisher — we are not an insurer, broker or advisor, and this article is general information, not financial or legal advice.