LAHORE: The personal physician of former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday said that Sharif was at the risk of developing “life threatening” cardiac and renal conditions even as a spokesman for the Punjab government said the jailed ex-premier’s health was stable and he was receiving the necessary medical attention.
Sharif is currently serving a seven-year sentence imposed last year for failing to disclose the source of income that allowed him to acquire the Al-Azizia Steel Mills in Saudi Arabia. He has appealed.
“The medical condition of Mian Nawaz Sharif is worsening,” his personal physician Dr. Adnan Khan told Arab News. “Turning a blind eye to the situation and [having a] callous attitude towards his health can lead to life threatening health issues, cardiac and renal both,” he said.
Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz has tweeted several times in recent days demanding that he be treated by doctors of his choice.
“Just got back after meeting MNS [Mian Nawaz Sharif],” she said in a Twitter post on March 23. “His doctor’s concern was not unfounded. The blood tests done yesterday reveal a further raise in his CREATININE levels which means his kidney function has deteriorated. His kidney disease is already at stage 3. The pain in the flanks persists.”
Dr. Shahbaz Gill, a spokesman for the Punjab government, denied that Sharif was being neglected by authorities and said his health was stable.
“The health condition of Mian Nawaz Sharif was satisfactory and the government was providing every possible facility to him,” Gill said in a video message on twitter. “He (Nawaz Sharif) always has a choice to get examined by any doctor in any hospital of Pakistan at any time.”
A urologist appointed by the Punjab government to examine the jailed former prime minister said in his report: “All lab investigations are within normal limits.”
The Punjab Minister for Health, Dr. Yasmeen Rashed, has also said reports pertaining to Sharif’s kidneys were “okay.”
Last month, Sharif was sent back to jail from the Services Hospital in Lahore after he refused to be shifted to any of the three health facilities offered by the Punjab government.
Members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party accuse the Sharif family of using Sharif’s health as a ruse to get him out of the country. However, the family has been insisting for weeks that he is seriously ill and not receiving the necessary care.
On Monday, while speaking to journalists in Islamabad, Prime Minister Imran Khan asked why the Sharifs, who had ruled the country in the center and the Punjab province for decades, did not "build one hospital where they themselves could be treated," criticizing the former premier's demand of getting medical treatment in London.