Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Former premier Nawaz Sharif on Sunday was shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) from Adiala prison on the orders of the caretaker government.

Medics conducted a check-up of the former premier after he complained of chest pain and advised that he be shifted to a coronary care unit (CCU) immediately, sources said.

Following this, the jail superintendent contacted the additional chief secretary. “In light of the additional chief secretary’s report, the caretaker government decided to shift Nawaz to PIMS,” sources in the Interior Ministry said.

TV footage showed a convoy of vehicles, including police vans, an armoured personnel carrier and at least two ambulances, on the road after leaving the jail in the evening.

While talking to the state-run television channel, caretaker Punjab Home Minister Shaukat Javed said that doctors had advised his transfer to a hospital after an electrocardiogram had shown “variations”.

“How many days he stays in hospital depends on doctors,” Javed said.

Earlier in the day, Dr Naeem Malik, head of the PIMS Cardiology Department, suggested that authorities shift Nawaz to the hospital as his blood tests showed clotting, “which was an alarming sign considering his medical history”.

Doctors are concerned about the health of jailed former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and have requested prison authorities in Rawalpindi to transfer him to a hospital, a government official said.

“Doctors at Adiala jail have observed changes in the ECG of Nawaz Sharif,” Punjab Chief Minister Hasan Askari Rizvi told Reuters.

“We cannot take any risk about Sharif’s health and have directed the jail authorities to shift him to either Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology or PIMS.”

Meanwhile, Nawaz’s personal physician also reached Adiala Jail on Sunday evening to examine him.

Last week, the former PM was suffering from dehydration and his blood urea content was 50 per cent higher than it should have been. A medical team had recommended that he be shifted to the hospital as his heart beat was not normal and the presence of urea in the blood may affect his kidney.

Nawaz and his daughter Maryam were arrested on July 13, minutes after they returned to Pakistan. They were moved to Adiala jail in the light of an accountability court’s verdict, which handed a 10-year jail term to the former premier in the Avenfield reference case. His daughter Maryarm Nawaz was sentenced to prison for seven years, while her husband Captain (r) Safdar Nawaz was given one-year jail term.

Published in Daily Times, July 30^th 2018.