NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Union health secretary to hold consultations with her counterparts in Karnataka and Kerala to find a solution to the deadlock arising from Karnataka’s decision to seal its borders with Kerala and the latter’s HC asking the Centre to intervene and open the border to help patients from Kasargod district to reach hospitals in Mangaluru.

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta asked the Union health secretary to hold consultations with counterparts in the two states to find a solution to the problem.

The Kerala HC’s order to the Centre to facilitate opening of the Karnataka border was challenged by the Yediyurappa government on the ground that Mangaluru’s health facilities were overstretched, the locals were opposed to entry of patients from Coivd-19 hit Kasargod district and that the Kerala HC had no jurisdiction to issue a direction to Karnataka.

