LAHORE: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has refused to be shifted to any hospital for treatment of his cardiac problem, saying he cannot tolerate “humiliation” in the name of medical treatment.

The PML-N supreme leader, who is serving a seven-year term in a corruption case in Kot Lakhpat Jail, didn’t oblige even his mother Shamim Akhtar in this regard, whom, as per those close to the family, he never says no.

Through her Twitter account, Maryam Nawaz revealed that her grandmother, uncle (Shahbaz), cousin (Hamza) and she herself could not convince her father for his treatment at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC), Lahore, where a special room had been prepared for him a day ago.

“I’m not ready to be humiliated in the name of treatment by being taken to one hospital or the other. Despite recommendations of five medical boards [set up by the government itself] the treatment has never been started. I won’t beg for the treatment and would rather prefer an honorable death over it. No healthcare facility has so far been extended to me. I’m just being teased as [the government is] politicking on my health issue. Now I’ve decided to go nowhere and stay put in the prison,” Maryam quoted her father as telling his mother, urging the latter to go home and pray for him, leaving the rest up to Allah Almighty.

Opposition leader in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif told the media after visiting his elder brother in the jail that the former prime minister was “not well” and was repeatedly feeling pain in his arm which was a matter of concern.

He said Nawaz Sharif would not be able to meet his visitors on Thursday, the day fixed by the prison authorities for the purpose.

Mr Shahbaz urged the parliamentarians, party leaders, friends and well-wishers to offer special prayers for his elder brother instead of coming to visit him in the jail today (Thursday).

Meanwhile, a letter written by the jail medical officer to the DIG (prisons) reveals that as per the examination report of an assistant professor of the PIC, the high-profile NAB convict was “not obviously dyspneic [a sign of serious disease of the airway, lungs or heart].”

“Patient examined complaining of nonspecific chest discomfort, well oriented, not obviously dyspneic,” AP Dr Imran Abid was quoted as saying in his examination report. The cardiologist found the patient’s pulse regular (80/min), blood pressure 140/95 mmHg and chest clear with bilateral vesicular breathing.

He, however, recommended fresh ECG and Trop-I test and referred to the recommendations of the Cardiology Board regarding “Graft Study”.

Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid says the doctors could not forcibly conduct angiography of Nawaz Sharif as he has declined to be admitted to the PIC.

The PML-N claims that the medical boards reports showed that Nawaz Sharif was suffering from Ischemic heart disease.

A spokesperson for the party recalls that ex-premier had in the past undergone two open heart surgeries, seven procedures of coronary intervention and a complex previous history of medical interventions. Above that he also has stage-3 chronic kidney disease, uncontrolled hypertension and sub-optimally controlled diabetes.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2019