Bengaluru To Host Aero India 2019, Confirms Centre After Row Over Venue
BENGALURU: Aero India - Asia's largest military aviation exhibition - will be held in Bengaluru in 2019, the government said today. The announcement comes weeks after reports that the prestigious air show hosted by the city for over two decades might be shifted out of the city.
"The Government has decided to hold the Aero India 2019 in Bengaluru from 20 - 24 February 2019. This five-day event will combine a major trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries with public air shows," a government release statement said.
The Karnataka government had stepped up pressure on the centre to conduct Aero India 2019 edition in Bengaluru itself. Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had written to Prime Miister Narendra Modi insisting that the city would be the "best choice" for the event.
There was speculation that the event, organised by the Defence Ministry, would be held in Lucknow where the centre is building a huge defence corridor. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath too had urged Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to hold the event in his state. But the defence minister had made it clear that no announcement had been made, but added that "people in many places are asking for that (the show)."
The Karnataka Congress wrote to Ms Sitaraman, telling her that as a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka, she had to protect the interests of the state and ensure that Aero India was retained in Bengaluru.
Since its inception in 1996, Bengaluru has been hosting the air show.
courtesy : ndtv.com
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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.
