LONDON - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is to undergo open heart surgery in London today, his second major cardiac medical procedure in five years.
The 66-year-old premier is expected to stay in hospital for around a week after the procedure to recover before travelling home.
The details of the operation were not given, but in a series of tweets, Maryam Nawaz Sharif said her father had been experiencing unspecified symptoms.
“Due to certain recent symptoms, doctors made further investigations… The team of cardiologists and cardiac surgeons after thorough examination scans and tests have decided to go for an open heart surgery,” she tweeted late Friday. “PM in 2011 had a cardiac procedure called ‘Atrial Fibrillation Ablation’, during which certain complications occurred resulting in perforation of heart which was in turn treated by open heart surgery,” she added.
“The recovery period and hospital stay will be one week and he will travel Insha’Allah (God willing) back to Pak as soon as the doctors allow. Prayers needed.”
The officials said Sharif was paying all expenses from his own pocket and “none of the state expenditures are involved”.
“In London, the prime minister is overseeing the affairs of the state as he is duly assisted by his principal secretary, military secretary and other staff members,” a statement issued by his office in Islamabad said.
“The prime minister is kept abreast on routine matters of the country and his directions are accordingly conveyed to the concerned quarters”.
He is in constant contact with his ministers with no postponements or delays in the matters pertaining to the routine functioning of the state, the statement added. Nawaz Sharif has been under pressure since the so-called Panama Papers linked his family to a series of offshore companies.
Karzai calls Nawaz:Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai called Prime Minister Nawaz Shairf on Monday extending his best wishes to him and praying for his speedy recovery. The prime minister thanked Karzai for inquiring about his health.