While seeking a further delay in return from London on medical grounds, counsel for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo informed the registrar of Lahore High Court on Wednesday that Nawaz Sharif cannot travel by air due to ill health and the threat of coronavirus.
Sharif, who was granted permission after being diagnosed with an immune system disorder, had been advised to go abroad for medical treatment. The former premier is convicted in two corruption cases and is a suspect in another case.
Sharif has been convicted in two corruption cases, however, the Lahore High Court had allowed him to travel abroad for four weeks on medical grounds after the federal government removed Sharif's name from no-fly list, and then he left Pakistan for the UK in November 2019 for treatment.
Nawaz, serving a seven-year prison term after his conviction in December 2018, was given rare permission in October 2019 to get medical treatment abroad in view of a debilitating health condition. The Islamabad High Court, however, had declared him a proclaimed offender on December 02, 2020, after he failed to appear before a bench – originally formed to hear his appeals against his convictions – despite various notices.
After passage of period of 20 months Sharif couldn’t turn up but his lawyer Amjad Pervaiz submitted a fresh medical report with signatures of one cardiothoracic surgeon Dr David Lawrence of London saying the doctors treating Nawaz Sharif have barred him from travelling, visiting public spaces – airports and planes – and staying “very close to healthcare facilities where he is currently under treatment”.
A week after the UK government has rejected PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif visa extension application he has requested the Lahore High Court from London to exempt him from returning till medical treatment for an indefinite period.
In the report, Dr Lawrence said Nawaz was under his “treatment and medical supervision intermittently since 2016" when he performed a coronary artery bypass surgery on the former premier. “In November 2019, he [Nawaz] was referred…for treatment because of unavailability of specific expertise, technologies, and techniques to treat his diseases along with co-morbidities and associated complications,” the report said, adding that Nawaz has “complex and complicated” medical issues.
“Great care needs to be exercised in dealing with each of the diseases and comorbidities he is suffering from in order to maintain the right balance,” Dr Lawrence wrote in the report. At present, an experienced team of haematologists at the Guy’s and St. Thomas Hospital and the cardiologists at the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospital are looking after the former prime minister in London, the report added.
“Prior to this latest referral Mr [Nawaz] Sharif has been getting treatment here in London for many years,” it said. The medical report further said: “In London, Mr [Nawaz] Sharif underwent extensive medical investigations and scans, including periodic laboratory assays – Rubidium-82 Cardiac Perfusion PET-CT scan (Rest & Stress), echocardiogram and 24-hours Holter analysis. He [Nawaz] had an echocardiogram showing left ventricular hypertrophy and dysfunction (EF 49%) and Aortic Valve Disease (mild AS) and 24-hour Holter analysis [was] reported abnormal with conduction defects (first degree AV Block & BBB morphology) having occasional law atrial rates, aberrant conduction, and ectopic activity.”
It is pertinent to mention that this is the 11th medical report of the PML-N supreme leader as the last report was submitted in November 2020.