Shahbaz, Maryam visit Nawaz at hospital

LAHORE: On the fifth day at the Jinnah Hospital, the incarcerated former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was visited by Shahbaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and other family members on Tuesday.

Shahbaz told reporters the government should provide treatment facilities to Nawaz Sharif without delay as per a medical board’s recommendations. To a question about India’s threats to Pakistan in the wake of the Pulwama attack, he said it was all propaganda by India and Modi.

It is pertinent to mention here that the hospital’s medical board in its recommendations on Monday had advised angiography of the ousted PM who is serving a 7-year jail term in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case.

Maryam told reporters she had learnt about the angiography advice. However, her family did not receive any report from the government officially.

Dozens of PML-N workers were present outside the hospital when the PML-N leaders arrived to inquire after the party supremo. They chanted slogans and showered rose petals on Shahbaz and Maryam when they arrived at the hospital separately.

On Tuesday, another aluminum-glass door near the main entrance from the admin side block of the hospital was damaged owing to the influx of visitors when Maryam arrived at the hospital. When Maryam was in the hospital, a lady doctor of the Jinnah Hospital arrived with an air gun but was denied entry for security reasons.

Jinnah Hospital’s Medical Superintendent Prof Dr Asim Hameed told reporters the medical board had advised angiography of Nawaz, but no procedure can start without his consent. He said the hospital has latest machinery to perform angiography. About previously diagnosed kidney stones, Dr Hameed said there was no pain or active complaint about this by the former premier and added that Nawaz is feeling better.

Patients and their attendants continued to suffer because of high security in the wake of VIP movement.

Separately, Shahbaz held a meeting with Nawaz in which the party strategy vis-à-vis upcoming bye-elections in PP-218 Multan was discussed.

Meanwhile, doctors have advised complete rest to Shahbaz because of backache. He was supposed to travel to Islamabad for a Public Accounts Committee meeting (PAC) on Wednesday.