ISLAMABAD: A team of doctors on Sunday inspected jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's eye condition at Rawalpindi's Adiala prison, the jail superintendent said, after his lawyer reported a significant loss of sight in his right eye.
The development followed a report submitted to the Supreme Court by a lawyer appointed as amicus curiae who was asked to visit Khan at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail earlier this month. The report said the 73-year-old had suffered severe vision loss in his right eye due to central retinal vein occlusion, leaving him with only 15 percent sight in the affected eye.
The findings triggered a sit-in by an opposition alliance, including members of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, demanding his immediate transfer to Islamabad’s Al-Shifa Hospital. Khan was also allowed to speak to his sons for about 20 minutes, according to his family, despite the former premier’s limited interactions with family and legal team in recent months due to restrictions that the PTI has challenged in court.
In a statement issued on Sunday evening, the Adiala Jail superintendent said a team of expert doctors from various hospitals had arrived at the prison with necessary medical equipment and medicines and was conducting a detailed examination of the ex-premier's eye.
"Detailed eye check-up is underway under the supervision of the Medical Board," the statement read. "Medical examination is being conducted under strict security arrangements. The report of the medical team is likely to be compiled soon."
The development comes a day after Pakistan’s government said on Saturday it has decided to transfer jailed former prime minister Imran Khan to a hospital and form a medical board for his eye treatment.
“Imran Khan has been provided the facility to speak with his sons on the phone and, in view of his health, it has also been decided to transfer him to hospital and constitute a medical board,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said on X. “The government gives priority to humanitarian considerations and legal requirements.”
But Khan's PTI party rejected his medical examination "behind closed doors, without the presence of his personal physicians or even a family representative."
"A medical assessment carried out in secrecy does not restore public confidence; it deepens suspicion," Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari, a PTI spokesman, said in a statement on Sunday evening.
"Access to independent medical professionals and family oversight is not a privilege, it is a fundamental right of any detainee. Denying that access undermines due process and fuels legitimate fears about the credibility of the findings."
Meanwhile, the opposition alliance continued its protest sit-in at parliament for a third consecutive day on Sunday to move the ex-premier to the hospital.
The former cricket star-turned-politician has been in prison since 2023 after being convicted in a graft case. He was removed from office in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022.
