Nawaz Sharif, 69, is accompanied by his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif and his personal physician Adnan Khan. He left for London via Qatar in a “high-end” air ambulance which arrived from Doha.
LAHORE:
Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif today left for London in an air ambulance for medical treatment for multiple diseases after the Lahore High Court allowed him to travel abroad for four weeks and rejected the Imran Khan government’s condition of furnishing an indemnity bond.
Nawaz Sharif, 69, is accompanied by his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif and his personal physician Adnan Khan. He left for London via Qatar in a “high-end” air ambulance which arrived from Doha.
PMLN spokesperson Marriyum Auranzeb said that Nawaz Sharif would be taken to Harely Street Clinic upon arrival in London for his treatment and if required he might be shifted to the US (Boston) for further treatment.
She said that before the departure the doctors examined Nawaz Sharif at his Jati Umra residence in Lahore and gave him a heavy dose of steroids and medicines to ensure that his condition remains stable during travel.
An intensive care unit and an operation theatre has been set up in the air ambulance and a team of doctors and paramedics will also be on board, physician Adnan Khan said in a tweet on Monday night.
On Wednesday, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government granted a one-time permission to Nawaz Sharif for four weeks to travel abroad for his treatment provided he submitted indemnity bonds worth Rs. 700 crore.
The former Pakistan PM challenged this condition in the court terming it “illegal” and a “trap” of prime minister Imran Khan to use them (bonds) for his political gains.
He recently secured eight weeks bail on medical grounds from the Islamabad High Court in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case in which he was serving seven years imprisonment. He also got bail from the LHC in the money laundering case.
Nawaz Sharif was earlier scheduled to leave for London on a Pakistan International Airlines flight on Sunday. However, he could not as his name figured in the no fly-list.
Nisham Ismail