Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad after irregular ECG and blood reports at Rawalpindi’s Adiala prison.
According to South Punjab News, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo’s health deteriorated in the jail – where he is serving a 10-year sentence handed down by an accountability court in connection with the Avenfield Apartments corruption reference.
Pims officials have confirmed that the jail authorities have asked them to make necessary arrangements to shift Sharif to the facility.
Consultants of various departments have been visiting the prison and examining the former premier on daily basis. Officials said they have been asking him to move to hospital, but he was refusing.
A senior official said he is a heart patient and now suffering from cardiac ischemia.
Security arrangements are being made in the hospital and he is expected to be shifted to presidential suite of the cardiac centre.
Pims’ Naeem Malik recommended moving Sharif to a hospital after his ECG showed irregular heart activity and the tests revealed blood clots. The deposed PM is also experiencing pain in both arms.
The Prisons IG had sought the government’s permission to shift the three-time prime minister to the health facility on the doctor’s recommendation.
A team of doctors from Rawalpindi’s Institute of Cardiology headed by Chief Executive Major General (retd) Azhar Mehmood Kayani visited the prison and compiled a report after carrying out a detailed medical examination.The report recommended Sharif be immediately shifted to a hospital.Prime Minister-elect Imran Khan has wished speedy and full recovery of former premier Nawaz Sharif who has fallen sick inside Adiala jail.
Khan’s statement came following reports that the three-time former premier, jailed earlier this month over graft charges, is being moved to PIMS Hospital for health reasons.
Sharif and his daughter were jailed on July 13 after a graft court sentenced them to 10 and seven years respectively over properties in Britain which emerged in the wake of Panama Papers revelations.
Caretaker home minister for Punjab province Shaukat Javed said on state-run Pakistan Television that doctors had advised his transfer to hospital after an electrocardiogram had shown "variations".
"How many days he stays in hospital depends on doctors," Javed said, adding that the former PM was being transferred to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad.
Sharif, who claims he is being targeted by the country´s powerful security establishment, is fighting for his political life after his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party lost an election on Wednesday to rival Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf led by former cricket hero Imran Khan.
His brother Shahbaz, who heads the party now, has rejected election results along with other parties who have demanded fresh elections and announced they would protest against alleged election rigging.
The protests announcement late Friday came as the United States, the European Union and other observers aired reservations over widespread claims that the powerful military had tried to fix the playing field in Khan´s favour.
Khan´s victory represents an end to decades of rotating leadership between the PML-N and the Bhutto dynasty´s Pakistan Peoples Party that was punctuated by periods of military rule.
The vote was meant to be a rare democratic transition in the Muslim country, which has been ruled by the powerful army for roughly half its history.
But it was marred by violence and allegations of military interference in the months leading up to the vote, with Khan seen as the beneficiary.
