Pinarayi to talk to Karnataka on patients ‘facing difficulties’ amid lockdown

Three people from Kasargod district, suffering from illnesses, were allowed to enter Mangaluru for treatment by the Karnataka authorities on Wednesday. But the relatives of one of the patients alleged that they were denied treatment at a hospital in Mangaluru.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the difficulties faced by patients who went to Mangaluru would be brought to the notice of the Karnataka government.

Rashid, a native of Kasargod, took his wife Taslima to a hospital in Mangaluru after she complained of shivering.

He told DH that though the authorities at Talapady checkpost on the inter-state border allowed them to proceed to Mangaluru, they were not taken to the hospital they preferred. The doctors at the medical college hospital where they were taken refused to treat the patient.

Rashid said he overheard the doctors saying that patients from Kerala would not be provided treatment. After waiting for an hour and a half, he took his wife away and was planning to take her to a private hospital in Kannur district on Thursday.

The second patient, suffering from a heart problem, was admitted to a hospital in Mangaluru. The third patient arrived in Mangaluru in the afternoon. All the patients were being taken to the medical college hospital in the city, said police sources.

Police sources in Kasargod said three patients from the district were allowed to cross the inter-state border on Wednesday. Another patient with diabetes was not allowed to go, saying it was not a critical case.

Kasargod facility taking shape

The Kerala government is initiating steps on a war-footing for enhancing the medical infrastructure in Kasargod. The administrative block of the upcoming medical college hospital in the district has already been developed as a 100-bed COVID-19 hospital in a week’s time. The government, on Wednesday, decided to sanction 273 posts for developing the medical college hospital into a 300-bed facility. A 24-hour casualty section, inpatient and outpatient services would begin soon, the chief minister said.