VIJAYAWADA: Tension prevailed at Andhra's border checkposts with Telangana in Krishna and Kurnool districts after the Telangana police barred the passage of ambulances with Covid patients.
Around 15 ambulances en route to Hyderabad were stopped at the Pullur toll plaza on NH 44.
Kurnool police immediately spoke to their counterparts in Gadwal in Telangana and got them to allow the ambulances. However, a few minutes later, they were stopped again.
At Ramapuram and other entry points to Telangana in Krishna district too, the Telangana police refused to allow any ambulance with Covid patients.
Repeated requests by relatives of the patients were to no avail, and most of the ambulances returned to the nearest hospitals in AP to avoid losing precious time.
When contacted, district police chiefs of both Kurnool and Krishna districts said they had not received communication of any restrictions imposed by the Telangana government.
The Telangana police officials on being asked said while they did not have any written orders from the top to stop ambulances from entering the state, they had received oral orders to ensure this. The reason they had been given was to avoid added pressure on hospitals in Hyderabad in light of the increasing demand for beds.
People in Andhra Pradesh roundly criticised the decision. AP Police, for their part, requested members of the public to carry necessary documents pertaining to hospital admission while heading towards Hyderabad.