Emergency care guarantee: Karnataka unveils draft rules to protect good samaritans, cover hospital costs

Bengaluru: To encourage more citizens to step forward as good samaritans and ensure hospitals provide crucial treatment during emergencies, the state govt proposed draft rules under the Karnataka Good Samaritan and Medical Professional (Protection and Regulation During Emergency Situations) Act, 2018, to operationalise the existing law.Under the Act, a good samaritan is defined as a person who in good faith, without expectation of reward or payment and without any duty of care or special relationship, voluntarily comes forward to administer emergency care or assistance to an injured person to stabilise their condition. This could be a victim of an accident, crash, criminal incident or any other emergency situation.
Officially titled the Karnataka Good Samaritan and Medical Professional (Protection and Regulation During Emergency Situations) Rules, 2026, the draft was released for public feedback. One of the key provisions is the creation of a dedicated Good Samaritan Fund. Under the proposed rules, if a good samaritan incurs travel expenses or wage loss exceeding Rs 100 to attend court or assist in legal proceedings, the court may order reimbursement from the dedicated fund.Harsh Gupta, principal secretary, health department, said, "An emergency situation is broadly defined as one where the absence of medical care could result in loss of life or permanent incapacitation. In such cases, all public and private hospitals are required to provide first aid and basic stabilisation treatment."To address concerns of private hospitals, the draft rules specify if treatment expenses cannot be recovered from the patient, the govt will bear the cost. "Expenses will be covered through the Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust (SAST). Empanelled hospitals will receive full reimbursement under Ayushman Bharat Arogya Karnataka (ABArK), while non-empanelled hospitals may be reimbursed at ABArK or PMJAY Health Benefit Package rates, whichever is higher," Gupta said.The govt further proposed instituting a Good Samaritan Award, to be conferred annually on Jan 26. "All these rules were proposed with the aim of guaranteeing the right to treatment for every citizen of the state in an emergency," Gupta said.Inset: Highlights from the proposed rulesCreation of Good Samaritan FundReimbursement of good samaritan's expensesGuaranteed reimbursements to hospitalsInstitution of annual Good Samaritan Award