Nawaz Sharif fighting a battle for survival, Dr Adnan Khan

Author: Daily Times Monitor

Doctors treating former prime minister Nawaz Sharif at the Services Hospital have refused to discharge the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo citing serious health risk, a private TV channel reported on Monday.

In a series of tweet, Dr Adnan said, “Thrombocytopenia (low platelet count) & NSTEMI (heart attack) is further complicated by deteriorating Kidney functions.”

He added that the poor blood sugar and blood pressure had also taken a toll on the former premier’s health.

The doctor further said, “Pending Scans/Biopsies, diagnostic dilemma still ensues from multiple complex pathologies & co-morbidities.”

The chief executive of Sharif Medical City said that the doctors were also facing difficulty in establishing a definitive diagnosis and subsequent management poses a considerable risk to Nawaz’s health.

Nawaz, who was admitted to Lahore’s Services Hospital almost a week ago and is being treated under the supervision of a special medical board, experienced once more a dip in his platelet count a day earlier, with the number going down from 45,000 to 25,000. The platelet count, according to the special medical board, decreased due to medicines he was being administered for his cardiac disease following a minor heart attack. However, as doctors stopped giving him that medicine, his platelet count rose back up.

Doctors have further advised to keep the PML-N leader in the hospital till platelet count is normal. In his current condition, the former prime minister cannot be moved from the hospital, they said.

According to the report, the doctors have also decided to carry out a full body scan, which they hope will reveal all the body parts that have been affected by the disease.

Contradicting reports of shifting the former prime minister to a private health facility, head of the special medical board and Principal of Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) Prof Mahmood Ayyaz said the treatment will continue at the state-run facility because it will be inappropriate to shift him to somewhere else since doctors at the Services Hospital are better aware about his condition and are giving him the right treatment. “Doctors at some other health facility will need some time [to study and understand the case]. Moreover, the patient has not yet expressed a desire to be shifted anywhere else,” he added.