Trump suggests military could fire at caravan if people throw stones
Washington, Nov 02 : President Donald Trump has suggested that the military could fire on the caravan that is heading towards the United States if people throw stones at the soldiers.
Currently, an estimated 5,000-7,000 people from three Latin American countries --El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala -- are marching towards the US through Mexico. Trump has deployed more than 5,000 military personnel on the southwestern border to stop them from entering.
Responding to a question from reporters after he announced changes in the current catch-and-release policy, Trump hoped that the US military does not has to open fire at these illegal immigrants.
"I hope not. I hope not. It's the military. I hope there won't be that," he said.
But, Trump added, anybody throwing stones and rocks, like they did in Mexico, that would be considered as a firearm, because "there's not much difference when you get hit in the face with a rock".
Trump alleged that these immigrants were throwing rocks, viciously, and violently. "You saw that three days ago, really hurting the military. We're not going to put up with that. They want to throw rocks at our military, our military fights back," he said.
"We're going to consider -- and I told them consider it a rifle. When they throw rocks like they did at the Mexico military and police, I say consider it a rifle," he added.
"They broke in to Mexico. And you look at what's happening in Guatemala along with El Salvador and Honduras. It's disgraceful that those countries aren't able to stop this because they should be able to stop it before it starts.
"And the United States pays them a fortune and we're looking at not doing that anymore because why should we be doing that when they do nothing for us?" he asked. PTI LKJ
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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.
