70-year old woman dies after K'taka police denies entering Thalapady border

An ambulance ferrying a seriously ill 70-year old woman from here to a hospital in nearby Mangaluru was allegedly not allowed by Karnataka police to cross the Thalapady border, following which she died on Sunday morning, her family claimed. The woman from Karnataka had come to stay with her son here and was being rushed to a Mangaluru hospital after her condition deteriorated, the family said.

Despite pleas by the family and ambulance driver, police did not allow the vehicle to cross the border and turned it back on Saturday, they alleged. She was taken to a primary health center and then home, but she died this morning, the family said.

Officials could not be reached for comment. The woman had come to her son's house on March 14.

Two days ago, a seriously ill man who was not allowed to be taken to a Mangaluru hospital had died. A Bihari woman, who was in labor, had given birth in an ambulance as she was not allowed to visit her doctor in the neighboring state. Karnataka has sealed its border orders with Kerala as a result of which people in the border villages are facing immense difficulties as they depend on Mangaluru for their medical needs.

Lorries laden with vegetables and other essentials had been held up at Makootam and various other places on the border after the roads were blocked. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene in the matter.

Expressing concern over the blocking of roads at different places along the border, he had said the people in the border villages are dependent on the neighboring State for various needs and now Karnataka has blocked them out by piling truckloads of soil on the roads. This goes against the spirit of the central government, Vijayan had said.

The ambulance driver claimed no ambulance was being allowed to cross the border to reach Mangaluru.