Imran Khan says ready for talks with PM Modi
Islamabad, Nov 29: Making peace overtures, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday said he was ready to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi as he conceded that it was not in Islamabad's interest to allow use of its territory for terror activities outside the country.
Khan was apparently referring to India's stance that terrorism and talks cannot go together and Pakistan must take effective and credible action to stop providing shelter and support to cross border terrorism from territories under its control.
"It is not in our interest to allow use of Pakistan's territory for terror outside," Khan said during an interaction with a group of Indian journalists here.
Khan said that people in Pakistan want peace with India and he will be happy to meet Indian Prime Minister Modi and talk to him.
"The mindset of people here has changed," Khan said.
When asked whether it is possible to resolve the Kashmir issue, the Pakistan Prime Minister said, "nothing is impossible."
"I am ready for talks on any issue. There can't be a military solution for Kashmir," he said.
He, however, said the gesture for peace cannot be one-sided.
"We are willing to wait for (general) elections to get over in India for a gesture from New Delhi," Khan said.
On punishing Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamat-ud Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed, who is carrying a USD 10 million US bounty, said, "there are UN sanctions against Hafiz Saeed. There is already a clampdown on him.
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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.
