Sirisena announces reconvening of Parliament on Nov 14
Colombo, Nov 4 : Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday announced reconvening of Parliament on November 14, which he had suspended last month, two days after sacking Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replacing him with former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa.
According to a gazette notification, issued by his Secretary Udaya R Seneviratne on Sunday evening, the assembly would be recalled on November 14.
In a dramatic turn of events, Rajapaksha was sworn in as new Prime Minister of the Indian Ocean island nation on October 26 after Sirisena sacked premier Wickremesinghe who termed the move as "unconstitutional" and vowed to prove his majority in Parliament.
The sudden development came amid growing tensions between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe on several policy matters and the President has been critical of the Prime Minister and his policies, especially on economy and security.
Sirisena's moves triggered a power struggle that some observers called a constitutional crisis.
Wickremesinghe termed the Sri Lankan president's move as "unconstitutional and illegal" and refused to leave the official residence, claiming he was still the legally appointed prime minister.
He also demanded a floor test in Parliament, following which Sirisena suspended Parliament on October 28 till November 16.
Wickremasinghe's United National Party handed over a motion of no confidence against new Prime Minister Rajapaksa. Senior UNP member Lakshman Kiriella said that Secretary General of Parliament was informed of the motion.
Since the suspension, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya came under pressure from political parties to defy Sirisena and reconvene the 225-member assembly.
The suspension was seen as a move to help Sirisena's prime ministerial nominee Mahinda Rajapaksa to cobble out his parliamentary majority.
The Rajapaksa-Sirisena combine has 96 MPs in the 225-member assembly, which is 17 short of the 113 required working majority.
But, with defection of at least nine legislators from Wickremesinghe's UNP and from the main Tamil party, TNA, Rajapaksha claims that he is just eight seats short of majority.
According to parliamentary officials, it was up to the parliamentary party leaders to agree if a floor test should be included in the agenda when the House is reconvened.
Foreign governments, rights groups, the United Nations have urged Sirisena to summon Parliament immediately and end the crisis.
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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.
