Minister in charge of Dakshina Kannada Kota Srinivas Poojary said here on Thursday that the State government had now stopped allowing patients from Kerala to enter Dakshina Kannada for taking treatment in any of the hospitals in Mangaluru.
“There is no compromise in our stand. The decision is to prevent community spreading of COVID-19 from Kasaragod,” he told presspersons here.
“We are strict and are not allowing patients from Kerala to enter our State. We are firm on this and are sending such ambulances back,” the Minister said.
He said transportation of essential goods and commodities between the two States had not been banned.
The government was releasing the addresses of all those under home quarantine in the district to ensure public vigil, Mr. Poojary said, and added that it was never intended to ostracise such people. Defending the city police for circulating their list on social media, Mr. Poojary said it had been done to ensure that those under home quarantine followed norms strictly.
Objecting to the State government decision, Muneer Katipalla, State president, Democratic Youth Federation of India, told The Hindu that several patients from north Kerala come to Mangaluru for medical treatment. Denying medical services to them in the guise of preventing COVID-19 is not proper. Those patients prefer hospitals and doctors who have been treating them for long in Mangaluru than approaching new doctors and hospitals. “It is an injustice,” he said.
Closing the Karnataka–Kerala border road at Ishwaramangala in Puttur taluk by pouring mud on the road was an “inhuman” and “uncivilised” act. Instead, barricades could have been used. In case if there was any emergency how to remove the loads of mud dumped on the road, he questioned.
Responding to reports on the issue, Mr. Poojary told reporters that all such blockades would be removed.
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