Nawaz's condition is slightly better: doctor

Published October 27, 2019
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's condition is slightly better and his platelet levels are stable, Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) Principal Prof Dr Mahmood Ayaz said on Sunday. — AFP/File
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's condition is slightly better and his platelet levels are stable, Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) Principal Prof Dr Mahmood Ayaz said on Sunday. — AFP/File

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's condition is slightly better and his platelet levels are stable, Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) Principal Prof Dr Mahmood Ayaz said on Sunday.

Speaking to media, Dr Ayaz said that the former premier will remain in the hospital until his treatment is complete, adding that Nawaz has not yet expressed a desire to be shifted anywhere else.

Nawaz's mother and sister also arrived at Services Hospital to visit him.

On Saturday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted Nawaz bail on medical grounds in the Al Azizia reference until Tuesday, October 29. A day earlier, he had also secured bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.

Yesterday, Dr Ayaz said that Nawaz had suffered angina pain, refuting reports that the PML-N supremo had suffered a heart attack.

Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid had held a press conference on Saturday afternoon during which she revealed that Sharif had also experienced angina pain the night of October 24.

"Cardiologists were on hand at that time and they conducted some tests. According to an enzymes test, he had experienced a minor heart attack that night," she said.

The former prime minister was rushed to SIMS last week after his personal physician raised an alarm about his deteriorating health.

On Tuesday, doctors at the hospital had termed Sharif's condition as 'serious' despite the transfusion of three mega units of platelets within hours of his admission.

According to the medical tests carried out on Tuesday, the platelet count of the former premier had "dropped from 16,000 to a critical level of 2,000" when he was brought to hospital late on Monday night, prompting the medical board members to go for "immediate transfusion of the platelets to save his life", one of the board members had said.

After a struggle of three days, a six-member medical board, headed by Dr Ayaz, on Thursday diagnosed the reason for Sharif's declining health.

"It is acute immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), a bleeding disorder in which the immune system destroys platelets," a board member had told Dawn. He said the treatment was given to the former prime minister in the light of his diagnosis. "We are hopeful that his condition will improve in a few days," he added.

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