Bengaluru: Minister Ramalinga Reddy inaugurates 'Gandhi Point', new canteen for BMTC staff members
Bengaluru: As a 'special treat' for its staff members on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on Monday, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) launched 'Gandhi Point', a canteen to provide the staff food at discount rates, with Karnataka Minister for Transport Ramalinga Reddy inaugurating the café at the Depot 4 in Jayanagar.
The new canteen, which carries the tagline, 'Independent Food Service', has also been launched on the occasion of BMTC silver jubilee this year and is meant to ensure the food provided is both nutritious and hygienic.
Minister Reddy, addressing the gathering at the inaugural, "The BMTC is also working at providing a new canteen at the Kempegowda Bus Station (Majestic), which is at the heart of the city and therefore will benefit the staff members of all four transport houses. While 'Gandhi Point' has now been opened at the Jayanagar Depot, canteens that provide nutritious food at discount rates will be opened in other depots of the BMTC too."
It may be recalled that the efforts of the BMTC at providing accident insurance worth crores of rupees for its staff members have been appreciated greatly by the employees. The BMTC staff members have also supported the new facility of providing food at low rates at 'Gandhi Point', lauding it as an employee-friendly effort on the part of the BMTC.
Keerthichandra, BMTC (South Division) Controlling Officer, Ravindra, Jayanagar Depot 4 Manager and the Depot staff members were present at the inaugural of the canteen.
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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.
