PM directs Punjab govt to provide best treatment to Nawaz

Ag NNI

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the Punjab government to provide best medical treatment to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif in the jail. He gave this directive while chairing a federal cabinet meeting in Islamabad on Thursday. Imran said Nawaz should be treated in hospital and by the doctor of his choice and the recommendations of a medical board should also be implemented. Meanwhile, the family members of Nawaz Sharif again held a meeting with him on Thursday afternoon at the central jail, Lahore, where he is serving a seven-year term after conviction in the Al-Azizia reference.

The family members including Nawaz Sharif’s mother Shamim Akhtar and daughter Maryam Nawaz tried to persuade him to change his decision of not seeking medical treatment in hospital. But they remained unsuccessful as Nawaz refused to go to hospital or give up stubbornness on the matter. Other family members present on the occasion included Capt (retd) Safdar and Hamza Shahbaz. They also had lunch with Nawaz. Nawaz’s mother embraced him, kissed him on the forehead and offered prayers seeking his early recovery and release from the prison.

Party leaders including Rana Tanvir, Ayaz Sadiq, Saira Afzal Tarar, Khurram Dastgir Khan and Muhammad Zubair also called on Nawaz. They remained with him for some time and discussed various issues.

On the other hand, Punjab government spokesman Dr Shahbaz Gill met the PML-N chief in the jail along with two prominent cardiologists Dr Saqib Shafi and Dr Shahid Hameed. They discussed issues pertaining to his cardiac problems and suggested solutions. The meeting was conducted on the instructions of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar who was earlier directed by Prime Minister Imran Khan to offer all possible medical assistance to Nawaz on behalf of the government.

Dr Gill told the media after the meeting that the doctors who met Nawaz concluded that he was in good health and not facing any serious threat to his life. He said the doctors are of the view that for the problems Nawaz is facing, he can receive proper medical treatment in any hospital in the city and the country. He said Nawaz felt pain from time to time, for which he is being given required medicines, and the jail doctors are also conducting his medical checkups on a daily basis.

Gill said that during the meeting, he had an impression that Nawaz is waiting for the court decision on his bail application. He said the government is ready to provide all possible healthcare to Nawaz according to the law. He said Nawaz has been offered that his doctors from London could be allowed to visit him. The Punjab chief minister is against doing any politics on the issue of Nawaz’s medical problems. He said the medical boards formed in the previous months had recommended that Nawaz should have angiography, which he should undertake now and give up his stubbornness, so that the complete picture of his heart could be ascertained. He said the government would write a formal letter to the Sharif family on Friday (today) in which they would be apprised of the government position regarding medical treatment.