President Asif Ali Zardari got a clean bill of health from his physicians on Wednesday and was discharged from hospital to move to his Dubai residence for rest, finally putting to rest speculations about his condition. However, there was no clear word from the government whether or not the president would return and take rest at the Presidency or if he would be resting at his residence in Jumeirah, a posh residential area in Dubai.
“Actually, it has not yet been decided whether [his] rest at home will be in Dubai or in Islamabad. It depends on whether doctors permit him to travel after discharge. It should be clear tomorrow, God willing,” said Presidential Spokesman Farhatullah Babar when asked if the president would return before December 27 to attend the death anniversary of his wife, slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The certificate issued by the American Hospital further confused the situation as it said: “All investigations were within normal range and he was kept for observation for a few more days and (he) is planned to be discharged on December 15, 2011, to rest at home as advised and to continue on his regular heart medications.” This again added to the controversy about his return, as there was no specific mention about how long he was advised to rest and whether he was in a condition to travel.
The 56-year-old Zardari had flown to Dubai on December 6 on health grounds on the insistence of his children in the midst of the memogate scandal over alleged attempts by one of his close aides to seek US help to limit the powers of the military leadership.
“Mr Asif Ali Zardari has been admitted to the American Hospital Dubai on Tuesday, 6 December 2011, with a chief complaint of left arm numbness and twitching with a transient episode of loss of consciousness that lasted for few seconds, which was witnessed,” said the certificate issued by Dr Khaldoun Taha, MD FACC, American Hospital, Dubai.
The certificate said further that upon arrival at the hospital’s Emergency Room, the president was fully awake and conscious with stable vital signs. “Given his history of heart disease, cardiac and neurological investigations were carried out which included MRI of the brain, lumbar puncture, 2-D echocardiogram, carotid Doppler and complete blood test,” said the certificate.
When Babar was asked whether the president would return home before December 27, the spokesperson said: “I can’t give a definite date of (the president’s) return to Pakistan. It would depend on the doctor’s permission to travel.”
It was also officially announced on December 6 that the president had gone to Dubai for his routine medical tests and to meet his children. Interestingly, his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was present in Pakistan when the president left for Dubai, and one of his daughters was in Britain.
The president’s close aide and his physician, Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain, repeatedly said that the president was normal at when he left for Dubai and that he would return within three to four days.
Religious Affairs Minister Syed Khurshid Shah had claimed in a TV programme on Tuesday that the president would most likely return before December 27 to attend the death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto. On Sunday, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told BBC that the president was making “rapid improvement”, but needed rest and would take two more weeks to return.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Wednesday that President Zardari was fine. “This is his (the president’s) own country. He can return whenever he wants,” he said. Malik also said he would advise the president to take some rest.