Medical board for shifting Nawaz to heart hospital

LAHORE: A special medical board, constituted for check-up and treatment of Mian Nawaz Sharif at Services Hospital, has recommended his shifting to a hospital with comprehensive cardiac care facility round-the-clock.

“He (Nawaz) needs continuous expert cardiac care in a facility where 24 hours cardiology intervention and multidisciplinary backup is available; therefore, he is referred back to be shifted to an institution where all above mentioned facilities are available under one roof round-the-clock,” recommended the board in its report on Tuesday.

The successive medical boards seem to have been shifting the responsibility to the next one, as four multi-disciplinary medical boards, involving 19 senior doctors, have examined Nawaz Sharif in a span of three weeks.

The six-member multidisciplinary special board was constituted on Feb 1, 2019. It consisted of Prof Dr Mahmood Ayaz, principal SIMS/Services Hospital as convener, Prof Dr Sajid Nisar, head of Medicines Department as chairman, and four members including Dr M Shoaib Nabi, head of Thoracic Department, Dr Khadija Irfan, head of Endocrinology Department, Dr Qamar Sardar Sheikh, an associate professor of Radiology, and Dr Zahid Rafiq, associate professor of Nephrology, and re-examined the patient and evaluated his investigations.

The board recommended that Mian Nawaz Sharif, 69, is a well-established case of coronary artery disease with recently documented reversible ischemia on thallium scan and having recurrent angina, which is his primary problem.

“If, in the opinion of expert cardiologists, it is considered necessary, then the previous cardiac history and present investigations may be further discussed with his primary treating cardiologist/ cardiac surgeon,” the board recommended.

Earlier, a four-member medical board of Allama Iqbal Medical College/ Jinnah Hospital, Lahore, (AIMC/JHL) comprising AIMC Principal Prof Dr Arif Tajammul (chairman), Prof Dr Tanveerul Islam, head of Medical Department, Prof Dr Aamir Nadeem, head of Radiology Department and Prof Dr Shafiq Cheema, head of Nephrology Department, had been constituted on Jan 15, 2019, which examined Nawaz Sharif in jail, and issued its report on Jan 17.

Meanwhile, a three-member medical board of the PIC comprising Chairman Prof Dr Shahid Hameed, professor of cardiology, and two members including Dr Sajjad Ahmad, associate professor of cardiology, and Dr Hamid Khalil, assistant professor of cardiology, was constituted on Jan 16, 2019.

On recommendation of the PIC medical board, a six-member larger special medical board comprising Dr Hamid Sharif Khan, assistant professor at Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology, Rawalpindi, Dr Muhammad Talha Bin Nazir, assistant professor of electrophysiology, Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology, Dr Shahid Hameed, professor of cardiology, Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore, Dr Sajjad Ahmed, associate professor of cardiology, Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Brigadier Abdul Hameed Siddiqui, classified cardiologist Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology & National Institute of Heart Diseases, Rawalpindi, and Brigadier Azmat Hayat, classified electrophysiologist Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology & National Institute of Heart Diseases, Rawalpindi, was constituted on Jan 26, 2019.