–Maryam visits ailing father in hospital
LAHORE: Maryam Nawaz paid a visit to her father Nawaz Sharif in hospital on Sunday after he was shifted to Services Hospital by the Punjab government on the recommendation of a special medical board formed to monitor his health.
The government formed another medical board to examine former prime minister’s medical reports as he underwent multiple medical tests, including CT scan and ultrasound, on Sunday.
A member of the medical board, Dr Mehmood Ayaz, explained that further tests will be performed on Nawaz and that ex-PM’s health is “satisfactory”.
He elaborated that examinations will also be performed by doctors from the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC).
Meanwhile, strict security arrangements were also being made to maintain law and order as additional police officials were deployed outside the hospital.
Earlier, two special medical boards of the Allama Iqbal Medical College/Jinnah Hospital, Lahore, and the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC), Lahore, examined Nawaz at the jail. The AIMC/Jinnah Hospital board had recommended that Nawaz should be shifted to hospital for “optimal treatment”.
However, the government, instead, had opted for the constitution of the third board, comprising army doctors. The board after a thorough examination had recommended the government to shift Nawaz to the hospital.
Subsequently, the medical committee had recommended Nawaz be shifted to a hospital so a kidney specialist and diabetologist could perform examinations. Further, a doctor familiar with Nawaz’s medical reports said that the former premier’s life could be in danger due to the health issue.
Nawaz Sharif was sent to jail by an accountability court last year after he was found guilty of corrupt practices in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs1.5 billion and $25 million on Nawaz — a total of Rs5bn. A disqualification of 10 years from holding any public office is part of the sentences awarded to the former PM and will come into effect following his release from jail after serving the seven-year sentence.
In September 2017, a probe against Nawaz was launched. He was first convicted and sentenced for 10 years in July last year in a case related to Avenfield properties in London. The Islamabad High Court granted him bail in the case in September. He was later convicted in the Al-Azizia case in December 2018.