Daily Times

The ever-so-famous Dr Adnan Khan has headed back to the motherland. This time, he has been tasked with the crucial responsibility of personally examining PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and her lab reports. He was asked to board a flight out of London by party supremo Nawaz Sharif after his daughter’s health deteriorated. The fiery leader had suspended all political activities last week after she was advised to rest for high fever and throat infection. The unnecessary hype given to her coronavirus test-albeit negative–must have rattled thousands of her supporters. Given the public exposure of political leaders, it is certainly next to impossible to fully thwart the virus. In particular, the hell-may-care, cavalier attitude of leaders in our part of the world screams of a personal failing born of braggadocio.
Until the recent past, the opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement was adamant about showing their strength despite the mounting pressure of COVID cases. Such pressing times called for an extraordinary attentiveness to own as well as others’ health, not a miscellany of politics. While Russia’s Putin insists on putting a hazmat suit to visit infected patients, our political parties entertain themselves with a game of passing the buck.

Maryam’s virus scare aside, the special appearance of Dr Adnan cannot be swept under the rug just like that. What shining credentials has the family physician gathered during his time in the British Isles that have armed him with the unique knowledge needed to fight COVID? Since Maryam’s negative test report had already surfaced before he arrived in Pakistan, what other serious ailments could he have come to prescribe the panacea for? The Sharif family had previously shown a similar inclination–hinting at a little obsession– for the same physician in the case of the former prime minister’s immune system disorder. Despite being assigned a 10-member medical board by the Punjab government, Sharif Senior and his clan did not bet their bottom dollar on anyone else but him. Further thickening the plot was SAPM Shahbaz Gill and his claim that the much-esteemed personal medic was simply an MBBS doctor. The last two years have seen Dr Adnan embroiled in controversial statements, one after the other. Last year, he had noted that Sharif was practising self-quarantine due to vulnerable age and a history of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Only two days later, a picture of the former premier taking a walk with his family members started doing rounds over the internet. Earlier, he had caused a spectacular ruckus over his boss’s medical reports.

Dr Adnan is not a stranger to the media limelight. The Sharif saga saw him take a stand before the flashing cameras on several occasions. His up-and-down maneuvering of the platelets count did the master trick. So much so that a mere physician was able to blindfold the entire medical board and even present SAPM (Health) to the factual details of Nawaz’s medical reports. Where hard facts were not on the ex-PM’s side, his loyal practitioner’s masterstroke tilted the table to his favour. It just remains to be seen whether this trip would see the talented doctor in his usual before-the-board position or busy in hush-hush dealings with Mariyam! May be this time, he would help his client get off NAB’s hook! *