Seriously ill patients from Kasaragod to be airlifted CM

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 9 (PTI) Critically ill persons
from Kasaragod district would be airlifted to hospitals within
the state if needed, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan
said as one more patient died in the northern district after
being "not allowed" to reach Mangaluru in Karnataka.
Since the lockdown, imposed to prevent the COVID-19
spread, came into force, Karnataka has sealed its border roads
and highways, resulting in death of at least nine patients
from Kerala after ambulances carrying them were not allowed to
cross Thalapady, about 20 km from Mangaluru.
The issue was resolved on Tuesday with Karnataka agreeing
to allow non-COVID-19 patients to cross the border to avail
treatment at Mangaluru hospitals.
Vijayan told reporters on Thursday that even though the
matter was solved, some issues still remained.
"Today also, one person died not getting treatment",
he said, but did not elaborate on the issues.
"To ensure this does not happen again, seriously ill
patients, will be airlifted to hospitals in our state, if
needed", he said.
Meanwhile, Kerala made additional arrangements to
issue medical certificates to patients seeking treatment in
Mangaluru in Karnataka for diseases other than COVID-19.
A facility for issuing certificates was already
functioning near the Thalapady check post in Kerala.
Besides this, a Medical Officer will be posted 24/7
at the Manjeswaram Community Health Centre (CHC) to issue the
certificates, Kasaragod District Medical Officer (Health)
Dr A V Ramdas said.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday had disposed of Karnataka's
petition challenging the Kerala High Court order on opening
the national highway traffic at Kasaragod border to provide
hospital access in Mangaluru to patients from Kerala after the
centre informed the two states have amicably resolved the
issue. PTI RRT UD
VS VS

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)