Kohli prefers water breaks as per conditions over new ICC norms
Rajkot, Oct 6 : India captain Virat Kohli Saturday raised concerns over the new ICC regulations which permit water breaks only at the fall of a wicket or in-between overs, and hoped match officials take into account external factors such as heat.
As per the new ICC regulations from September 30, water breaks are permitted only at the fall of a wicket or in-between overs, with unscheduled breaks at the umpires' discretion.
With temperatures touching nearly 40 degrees Celsius on each of the three days of the first Test between India and West Indies here, players from both sides were constantly under the supervision of umpires while asking for drinks breaks.
"That was a bit to do with the umpires pushing us as well, with these new rules coming in of not drinking too much water," Kohli said after the game, which India won by a record innings and 272 runs.
"These things should be considered according to the conditions we play in."
The extra scrutiny led to an improvement in over-rates.
"The guys really struggled in this game because of those few changes. It was quite difficult for the guys not to drink water for close to 40-45 minutes while batting and on the field as well. I'm sure they'll look into this," Kohli said.
While batting, Cheteshwar Pujara worked around the water-break restrictions by sipping from small bottles in his pocket.
The heat played a part in going in with a fifth bowler at the expense of an extra batsman.
"We wanted to have the extra guy because of the heat factor," Kohli said.
"Four bowlers would have struggled in these conditions and we just wanted to give them bit more breaks in between and still have quality bowling coming at the opposition.
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'Low-quality' catheters supplied to West Bengal govt hospitals at high price, probe ordered
Kolkata (PTI): The West Bengal health department has launched a probe into the supplies of allegedly low-quality and locally made catheters at a high price to several government hospitals, posing a risk to the lives of patients undergoing treatment in these facilities, officials said.
Such central venous catheters (CVCs) were allegedly supplied to at least five medical colleges and hospitals in the state, defying allocation of international standard-compliant CVCs, they said.
The distribution company, which has been accused of supplying these catheters to government hospitals, admitted to the fault but placed the blame on its employees.
"We started checking stocks some time back and found these locally made CVCs in my hospital store. These catheters are of low quality as compared to those allocated by the state. We have informed the state health department," a senior official of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital told PTI.
Low-quality catheters were also found in the stores of other hospitals, which indicates "possible involvement of insiders in the scam", a health department official said.
The low-quality CVCs were supplied by a distributor in the Hatibagan area in the northern part of Kolkata for the last three to four months, he said.
"Such kinds of local CVCs are priced around Rs 1,500 but the distributor took Rs 4,177 for each device," the official said.
A CVC is a thin and flexible tube that is inserted into a vein to allow for the administration of fluids, blood, and other treatment. It's also clinically called a central line catheter.
"An initial probe revealed that the distribution company Prakash Surgical had supplied the low-quality and locally manufactured catheters to several government hospitals instead of the CVCs of the government-designated international company.
"All the units will be tested and a proper investigation is on to find out who benefited from these supplies," the health department official said.
The distribution company blamed its employees for the supply of inferior quality catheters.
"I was sick for a few months. Some employees of the organisation made this mistake. We are taking back all those units that have gone to the hospitals. It's all about misunderstanding," an official of the distribution company told PTI.
According to another state health department official, a complaint was lodged with the police in this connection.
Asked about how many patients were affected by the usage of such low-quality CVCs, the official said, "The probe would also try to find that out".
According to sources in the health department, some of the staff of the hospitals' equipment receiving departments and some local officials of international organisations might be involved in the alleged irregularities.
