LAHORE – Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was hospitalised after his health condition deteriorated in the anti-graft body’s detention centre due to critically low platelet count.
Sharif, 69, has been serving a seven-year prison term since December 24, 2018 when the accountability court convicted him in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case – one of the three corruption cases filed in the wake of the apex court’s July 28, 2017 order in the Panama Papers scandal.
The three-time prime minister was hospitalised on Monday night.
“Former premier Nawaz Sharif is detected to have critically low platelet count (16*10^9/L) that could be due to multiple pathologies and requires immediate in-hospital care,” Sharif’s personal physician Dr Adnan Khan said in a tweet on Monday.
“I have requested the authorities concerned to act in urgency,” Khan said.
Khan said he met Sharif at the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) cell in Lahore and found him visibly unwell.
“He has multiple serious life-threatening health issues of acute nature. The matter is of utmost urgency and he should be hospitalised,” he said.
A NAB spokesman said Sharif has been shifted to the Services Hospital where he is being treated by a team of doctors.
PML-N president and Nawaz Sharif’s brother Shahbaz Sharif alleged that despite the worsening health of his older brother, he was not shifted to hospital earlier.
He said Prime Minister Imran Khan will be responsible if anything happens to Nawaz Sharif.
Doctors said the former prime minister required aggressive medication and “regular medical follow-ups” to avoid health complications.
The ousted prime minister is in the NAB’s custody for his alleged role in Chaudhary Sugar Mills corruption case. Earlier he was lodged at the Kot Lakhpat jail.
Ailing Nawaz Sharif may receive platelet transfusion: reports
Nawaz Sharif is expected to undergo a platelet transfusion on Tuesday after the jailed former Pakistan prime minister’s vital blood cell count dropped further, media reports said.
Sharif, 69, is serving a 7-year prison term since December 24, 2018 when the accountability court convicted him in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case – one of the three corruption cases filed in following the Supreme Court’s 2017 order in the Panama Papers scandal.
He is currently admitted to the Services Hospital in Lahore.
Some blood test results of Sharif are not satisfactory, said Services Hospital Principal Professor Ayaz Mahmood.
According to him, the number of platelets in the former prime minister’s body are 10,000. Hospital sources claimed that Sharif’s blood tests are being taken to supply him with platelets, Geo News reported.
After being shifted from the Kot Lakhpat jail to the hospital late on Monday, the doctors monitoring the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supremo’s health conducted further checkups.
His personal physician, Dr Adnan Malik, said Sharif’s platelet count fell due to “multiple pathologies”.
However, a press statement by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) blamed a blood-thinning medication for the drop in the platelet count, The Express Tribune reported.
The anti-corruption agency maintained that a medical team has been deputed to provide round-the-clock medical facilities to the jailed premier and his personal physician was allowed to stay with him for three hours.
PML-N president and Sharif’s younger brother Shahbaz Sharif alleged that despite the worsening health of the three-time prime minister, he was not shifted to hospital earlier.
He said Prime Minister Imran Khan will be responsible if anything happens to Sharif.
Sharif’s son, Hussain, claimed on Twitter that the reason for his father’s deteriorating health could be “poison” too as it is known to reduce platelet count.
Hussain claimed that the premier was moved to the NAB Headquarters in Rawalpindi to “break him ahead of the protests”.
“To make things worse, above solitary confinement, he is even denied newspapers. Although insufficient given his ailments, the medical cover provided at the Central Jail was also withdrawn,” he added.
Hussain also claimed that Nawaz’s personal physician was denied permission to examine the incarcerated former prime minister for a week.
“It was only after we took to Twitter and the resultant protest outside the NAB Headquarters that a team of doctors was called who confirmed Dr Adnan’s findings and hence Nawaz Sharif was hurriedly shifted to the hospital.”
He questioned why the accountability watchdog and the government failed to hospitalise Sharif despite a substantially reduced platelet count.
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