Lahore:
Pakistan’s jailed former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is serving a seven-year sentence in a corruption case, was on Friday shifted to a leading hospital here for cardiac treatment. Sharif, 69, was brought to the Jinnah Hospital from the high security the Kot Lakhpat jai. The Punjab home department has declared the private ward of the hospital a “sub-jail” for the duration of Sharif’s stay there, officials said.
The ousted premier was shifted back to jail on February 7 after undergoing treatment for six days at the Services Hospital where a multi-disciplinary medical board examined him and unanimously opined that he needs some kind of cardiac intervention.
Subsequently, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party supremo’s personal physician Adnan Khan had requested the Punjab government to provide round-the-clock expert cardiac care to Sharif at a facility where cardiology intervention and multidisciplinary backup would be available.
Accepting the request, the Punjab Home Department accorded sanction for “shifting of high-profile National Accountability Bureau convicted prisoner Sharif from central jail to Jinnah Hospital, Lahore, for medical treatment for minimum required period.”
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The PML-N has been demanding shifting of Sharif to London for his treatment. The PML-N has also submitted a resolution in the Punjab Assembly demanding that Sharif should be shifted to London as he always had undergone cardiac treatment there and the doctors knew his medical history.
But a medical board here declared that Sharif could be treated in any specialised cardiac health facility in Pakistan.
“After examining all results of his tests, the medical board has reached a unanimous decision that Sharif needs some kind of cardiac intervention. For the purpose he should be shifted to a cardiac institute,” the head of the medical board at the Services Hospital, Professor Dr Mahmood Ayaz, had said.
He said Sharif had heart issues because of his previous history of some diseases, including high blood pressure, diabetes and kidney problem.
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Dr Ayaz further said: “According to the findings of the board, Sharif is facing some problems in blood supply of heart veins that must be addressed by cardiac specialists. We had engaged some cardiac specialists from the Punjab Institute of Cardiology who examined the patient and his test reports and suggested little change in Sharif’s medicines.?
Sharif has been behind the bars since December 24, 2018, after an accountability court convicted him in one of the three corruption cases filed under the direction of the Supreme Court.
On Thursday Sharif’s younger brother and PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif got bail from high court in two corruption cases.
