Dakshina Kannada opens Kerala border for patients *conditions apply

Medical officer in Kasargod should certify the patient who wants entry to Dakshina Kannada is ‘Non-COVID.’ 

With COVID-19 cases increasing in Kerala, especially in Kasargod district,
Karnataka had shut its borders to the patients from there. This move was questioned in the Kerala High Court as well as the Supreme Court.

When the issue came before the Apex Court on Tuesday, the court was told that both the states- Karnataka and Kerala had agreed to a protocol of facilitating the free movement of patients for medical treatment at the interstate border at Talapady.

People of Kasargod in Kerala state mostly depend on the hospitals in Dakshina Kannada district. Ambulances carrying patients from Kasargod to Karnataka via the interstate border at Talapady is a common scene everyday. But it had stopped after Karnataka had sealed the border.

After the Dakshina Kannada District Level COVID Committee meeting, Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh told reporters that the entry for the emergency treatment would be allowed based on the guidelines.

Only government ambulances with patients who need emergency treatment and who have met road accidents would be given entry.

The local government medical officer in Kasargod should certify that the patient who wants entry to Dakshina Kannada is ‘Non-COVID.’ Also, the officer has to declare that the specific treatment needed for the patient in Dakshina Kannada was not available at Kasargod.

Apart from the driver and paramedic, the patient should be accompanied by only one attendant in the ambulance and the ambulance should be fully sanitized as per the guidelines of the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry.

When the ambulance comes to the interstate border at Talapady, a team of doctors would examine the checklist and allow the ambulance into Dakshina Kannada.