Karnataka agreed to allow patients, says Kerala CM

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that Karnataka has agreed to allow ambulances carrying patients from Kerala to hospitals in Karnataka on producing a medical certificate.

The fresh move would be a relief to scores of persons of Kasargod in North Kerala who have been depending on hospitals in neighbouring Mangaluru owing to lack of specialty hospitals in Kasargod district.

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The Chief Minister said that only patients without coronavirus infection would be allowed. A medical team of Karnataka would check the patients and medical certificate at the Thalapady border check-post.

Even as Karnataka earlier approached the Supreme Court against an order of the Kerala High Court directing the Centre to take steps to allow patients from Kerala to Karnataka, the roadblock at the border was continuing. As many as eight patients in Kasargod died over the last week and their relatives were alleging that inaccessibility to hospitals in Mangaluru due to the road block by Karnataka.