Lahore: Ousted Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif should be shifted to a hospital from prison after he developed cardiac complications, a media report quoted a special medical board constituted to monitor his health as recommending. Sharif, 69, has been serving a seven-year jail term in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption case.
The suggestion to shift Sharif to a hospital was made to the provincial home ministry in a report. According to Express News, the former premier has developed cardiac complications. On January 25, the Punjab provincial government formed the medical board to examine the health of Sharif. The medical board, comprising cardiac experts from Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC), Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) and Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC), conducted a detailed examination of the three-time prime minister on January 30 for two hours in Lahore’s prison.
Sharif’s personal physician Dr Adnan also briefed the board about the medical history related to his heart ailment, the report said. Following the check-up and on the basis of some medical reports, the special medical board prepared its report which was later to the authorities concerned, insisting to shift the ousted prime minister to a hospital, the report said. Sharif’s family has also demanded that he should be shifted to a hospital as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supremo was not getting proper medical facilities in the prison.
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. The Al-Azizia Steel Mill case was about setting up steel mills in Saudi Arabia allegedly with corruption money. Three corruption cases – Avenfield properties case, Flagship investment case and Al-Azizia steel mills case – were launched against the Sharif family by the National Accountability Bureau in 2017 following a judgment by the Supreme Court that disqualified Sharif in the Panama Papers case in 2017.