Daily Times

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto on Tuesday demanded that the federal government include private doctors to the medical board treating his ailing father Asif Ali Zardari, a private TV channel reported.

Addressing a press conference following an all-parties conference, Bilawal said his father is ill since long and his health condition is worsening day by day. He hoped that the Supreme Court will soon hear their plea in this regard.

The PPP chief lashed out at the government for shifting his father’s case from Sindh to Rawalpindi and demanded free and fair fresh elections in the country.

Speaking on the occasion, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman stressed the need to resolve public issues and the ongoing ‘political crisis’ in the country. He said all the opposition parties in the APC have agreed that midterm election is the solution of all the issues. He said they will not compromise on their demand for the midterm elections.

Meanwhile, a medical board examined Zardari at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).

According to sources, the blood pressure and sugar level of the PPP leader are fluctuating constantly and the doctors have decided to enhance the insulin dose suggested to him to control his sugar level. The doctors were also considering changing the medicines suggested for his cardiac treatment, sources said. The former president is still feeling persistent pain in lower back and neck, according to the hospital sources. “His heartbeat is gradually returning to normal, while the problem of dizziness has also gone down considerably.” The doctors have advised him to continue the tranquilisers, while also directed him to start walking in the hospital room.

He is undergoing a session of physiotherapy on a daily basis, the sources added. Zardari had been complaining of lower back pain, weakness and anxiety due to which he was shifted to PIMS from Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail on October 22 where a number of medical tests were carried out.

His platelet count also showed at the 120,000 level, which is low, but according to doctors it wasn’t unusual as the former president was taking a number of medicines.