The Dakshina Kannada district administration has agreed to allow the movement of patients from Kasaragod to Mangaluru for medical treatment with certain conditions.
This follows the disposal of instant special leave petitions and writ petitions by the Supreme Court after the Chief Secretaries of Karnataka and Kerala agreed to a protocol for facilitating the free movement of patients for medical treatment through the inter-State border at Talapadi in Mangaluru taluk.
The Dakshina Kannada district administration held a meeting with the Mangaluru chapter of IMA (Indian Medical Association) on Tuesday to come out with a protocol on the movement of patients from Kerala.
The meeting decided that emergency cases and accidents cases will be allowed to Mangaluru only on government ambulances.
The government health officer in Kasaragod has to certify that the patient is free of Covid-19 and that Kasaragod does not have the required medical facility to treat the patient concerned.
The ambulance that brings the patient should be sanitised according to the protocols set by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The district administration mandated that only one attendant, apart from the ambulance driver and paramedic, can accompany the patient. The Dakshina Kannada district administration has stationed a team of health officials at the Talapadi border to monitor the movement of ambulances.
Kasaragod is one of the hotspots of Covid-19 in the country. The daily bulletin of Kerala for Tuesday put the number of positive cases at 263 in Kerala. This included 131 positive cases in Kasaragod district.