HAILAKANDI, April 21 - After the intervention of Deputy Commissioners of Hailakandi district of Assam and East Jaintia district of Meghalaya, the patients from Barak Valley, Tripura and Mizoram will now be able to cross the Assam-Meghalaya border during the lockdown.
The Deputy Commissioner of Hailakandi took up the matter with her East Jaintia Hills district counterpart to remove the barriers for timely treatment of patients following reports of critically ill patients from Barak Valley facing extreme difficulties in crossing through the Meghalaya side due to the lockdown.
Hailakandi Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli mailed a letter to East Jaintia Hills district Deputy Commissioner Federick M Dopth, requesting him for removal of the hurdles so that serious patients from Hailakandi in particular and Barak Valley in general referred to Guwahati could get timely medical care and treatment.
Jalli also pointed out that vehicles including ambulances with passes from the respective district administrations were not given passage despite guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
�As you may appreciate the fact that patients from Barak Valley seeking critical care for heart and kidney ailments often travel to Guwahati crossing Meghalaya through Ratacherra check-point. Such barriers would result in loss of precious time and cause inconveniences to patients and families,� Jalli said in the letter.
Dopth, in his reply, on Saturday informed his Hailakandi counterpart that necessary instructions have been issued to the Ratacherra check-point bordering Assam to expedite smooth travel of critical care patients en route to Guwahati.
Dopth, while assuring his counterpart Jalli of his full cooperation on the �matter of life and death�, made a plea to her for issuing advisories from her end to all concerned to keep the papers handy and to ensure that �only one attendant and one medical staff to accompany the patient to avoid delay in clearance at the checkpoint�.
The East Jaintia Hills district deputy commissioner, in his letter, cited instances of more than one attendant, besides the medical expert and driver accompanying the patient causing the delay.
