Nawaz Sharif’s life at risk, says doctor

Islamabad: Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s personal physician Dr Adnan Khan has warned that the life of his patient “is at risk”.

“Yesterday around 04 AM in the morning he felt unwell & breathless, requested guards to open cell door as he choked,” tweeted Dr Adnan Khan after visiting the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo at the Kot Lakhpat Jail.

“It took awhile for him to settle after using sublingual nitrate spray. His life is at risk. This is a warning.”

Responding to Dr Adnan’s statement, Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam lamented that she had not been allowed to meet her father despite his precarious health.

Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said preventing Maryam Nawaz from meeting her ailing father in jail was “unacceptable”.

“What message does the selected government try to give by denying a daughter and father to meet each other?” he questioned in a statement.

He demanded of the government to arrange a meeting of Maryam Nawaz with her father without any delay.

At  a news conference in Lahore, PM’s Special Assistant on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan said the government wished good health to the ailing former Premier.

However, she added, that “the jail manual or prisoner’s code of conduct cannot be breached for any individual”.

Nawaz Sharif, she said, had been given ample time to consult doctors and get treatment of his choice but to no avail.

The three-time prime minister was sentenced to a seven-year imprisonment in the Al-Azizia corruption reference last year. He remains incarcerated at the Lahore prison since December 24, 2018. On March 26, the Supreme Court had granted him a six-week bail on medical grounds, which ended on May 7.