LAHORE - Following Nawaz Sharif’s refusal to move to a hospital for treatment, Punjab government on Saturday set up a cardiac medical unit at Kot Lakhpat Jail to provide treatment to the PML-N leader in case of any emergency.
Also, an ambulance equipped with medical apparatus to provide emergency treatment to a cardiac patient is also parked outside the prison as a measure to shift Mian Nawaz Sharif to Punjab Institute of Cardiology at any time if the need be.
PML-N President Mian Shehbaz Sharif met his elder brother at Kot Lakhpat Jail today, but failed to convince him to shift to a hospital. Nawaz reportedly told his younger brother that he was taken to different hospitals earlier but only to diagnose the disease.
He further told Shehbaz that the government was making mockery of his serious health condition by shifting him to hospitals. Nawaz also reportedly told Shehbaz that doctors had told him that they did not have the permission to treat him.
Highly upset over the government’s attitude, the former premier further said he would no longer tolerate the kind of treatment being meted out to him in the name of treatment.
Meanwhile, Spokesperson for Punjab Chief Minister Dr Shahbaz Gill Saturday said that the mobile cardiac unit at Kot Lakhpat Jail has been set up on the instructions of Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on the request of Maryam Nawaz on Twitter.
He said doctors and technicians of the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) will remain present in
this mobile unit in three shifts. He said all life-saving facilities which needed in case of any emergency were available in this mobile unit.
The spokesperson said the PML-N was doing politics on the health of Nawaz Sharif that was regrettable. He said PTI believed in justice and equal treatment to every citizen. Shahbaz said that Punjab government was providing all possible facilities to Nawaz Sharif as per jail manual. He said Punjab government was even ready to provide medical facilities from any private or public hospital of his choice and it had written a letter in this regard to the Sharif family.
Replying to a question, he said that Nawaz Sharif was waiting for his bail after that he wanted to go abroad for treatment. He said Punjab government had no authority to send him abroad. The spokesperson said the prime minister had given clear instructions to the Punjab government to provide all medical facilities as per rules to Nawaz Sharif.
INP adds: PML-N leader and former foreign minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif warned on Saturday that Pakistan’s politics will turn violent if anything happens to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
“Nawaz Sharif has never insisted on going abroad for his treatment,” he said while speaking to the media in Sialkot. However, the option of sending the three-time prime minister abroad for treatment could be considered upon his release from prison on bail, he added.
He said he met Nawaz Sharif at Kot Lakhpat Jail along with Shehbaz Sharif, Hamza Shehbaz, Maryam Nawaz and the PML-N supreme leader’s personal doctor, adding that he [Nawaz] declined to go to hospital despite their efforts to convince him.
Questioning the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s intentions, the former foreign minister lamented that the PML-N supremo was not provided proper treatment at Jinnah Hospital and Services Hospital where he was shifted lately following the recommendations of a panel of medical experts.
Because of pressure, he said, doctors were not able to make a prognosis about Nawaz Sharif’s health, stressing the need for his immediate treatment.
Asif recalled that when Begum Kalsoom Nawaz was sick, opponents had made propaganda about her health. Nawaz Sharif will not do politics over his ailment, the former minister said.
