Daily Times

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was Saturday shifted to the Services Hospital Lahore from Kot Lakhpat prison after Punjab government granted permission to shift the incarcerated Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo to a hospital in keeping with the recommendations of a medical board.

The former prime minister was given a warm reception by hospital staff upon his arrival at the hospital. The medical staff served him tea and snacks before proceeding with any medical examinations. He was then shifted to the hospital’s VIP room under strict security measures. Supporters chanted slogans in his favour and the former prime minister waved back in response.

In an update on Twitter, Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz said she was told that her father had been taken to the hospital.

“Superintendent jail will ensure early shifting of the prisoner [Nawaz] back to the Central Jail Lahore, in consultation with respective hospital authorities, after requisite medical examination/investigation/management, under foolproof security arrangements,” reads a notification issued by the Home Department.

Dr Qambar Zia, the medical superintendent of Services Hospital, said that the hospital had not yet received Sharif’s reports prepared by the medical board that examined the former prime minister in jail. A detailed checkup will be done once the reports are received, he said.

Dr Zia further said the hospital will not be able to provide treatment for any heart ailment that Sharif may be suffering from.

A six-member medical board, which was constituted to carry out a thorough medical examination of Sharif earlier this week, had recommended that the former prime minister be shifted to a hospital as he was ‘suffering from multiple health issues that need immediate and specialised healthcare at a facility where care for multiple and complicated diseases is available’.

Nawaz Sharif, who was convicted in the Al Azizia corruption reference by an accountability court last year and sentenced to seven years in prison, has reportedly experienced medical complications while serving time at Kot Lakhpat.

Published in Daily Times, February 3^rd 2019.