Grounds being prepared to ‘hospitalise’ Sharjeel

KARACHI: Medical grounds are "being prepared" to shift former information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon to hospital after two physiotherapists from Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC) were dispatched to Karachi Central Jail for his physiotherapy after he complained of severe backache, sources said on Wednesday.

Superintendent Karachi Central Jail had on Wednesday requested the executive Director JPMC to send a physiotherapist to the prison for Sharjeel Memon, sources confirmed. The former minister was sent to Karachi Central Jail after he was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau  on Monday on corruption charges after cancellation of his bail by the Sindh High Court.

Sources believe the renovation work currently underway at the JPMC's special ward  is being carried out to accomodate political and other influential prisoners, as already five to six luxury rooms at the special ward occupied by under-trial prisoners and even convicted murderers, they added.

Usually the special ward of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, executive rooms at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases and some special rooms at the private South City Hospital and Ziauddin Hospital  are the places where political prisoners, especially those from Pakistan People’s Party often take refuge.

Former Federal Minister and now the PPP Karachi President Dr. Asim Hussain spent his imprisonment at the JPMC special ward and so is the convicted killer Shahrukh Jatoi unlike thousands of severely sick patients are languishing at jails.