Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is going to undergo an open heart surgery on Tuesday in London as a team of cardiologists and cardiac surgeons recommended him to get the surgery done keeping in view his condition.
Meanwhile in Pakistan, the PM’s return to his homeland has become the centre of discussion in political and private circles.
Pakistan Today tried to learn the procedure and timeframe of post surgery wound healing by getting inputs from the experts of the field.
Professor Dr Abdul Waheed, former head of department of Cardiac Surgery at Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC), said that a patient is normally discharged from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) 48 hours after going through the open heart surgery. He added that the patient is discharged from the hospital 10 days after the surgery and is able to travel within two to three weeks. He said that the patient is permitted to start doing ‘light’ routine work after two weeks.
Dr Amir Hussain Bandesha, Assistant Professor of Cardiology at PIC, told Pakistan Today that a patient is discharged after 7 to 10 days normally. “The will power of a patient plays a vital role in his recovery after the open heart surgery,” Bandesha said, who is also a member of Executive Committee in Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC). He was of the view that the recovery of a patient also depends on the working condition of the pump of his heart. If a patient is not diabetic and his kidneys function well, then his chances of recovery are high, he added.
According to some media reports, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif is also expected to visit London in the next 24 hours.
Federal budget not to be delayed:
There were reports that the budget session may be delayed due to the PM’s illness but the spokesperson of PM denied the news and said that that the prime minister would chair the cabinet session through video link to approve the budget. Furthermore, he is going to chair the meeting of National Economic Council through the video link on Monday.
When contacted, Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly Mian Mehmood ur Rasheed said that there is no chance of the budget being delayed in Punjab as the parliamentary calendar of the Punjab Assembly has already been issued.
“Illness can come anytime to anyone and human beings cannot do anything about it,” he said. We must pray for the recovery of the prime minister as he is going to be operated on Tuesday, the opposition leader concluded.
The PML-N Lahore chapter has decided to hold prayer meetings on Tuesday in every union council of the city. This was announced by the party’s Lahore President Pervaiz Malik, who said that the workers of PML-N will observe ‘prayer day’ on Tuesday.