KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party leader Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday underwent medical check-up in which his multiple tests were carried out by a team of physicians while no official announcement was made from the PPP about his plan for admission to hospital.

However, PPP leaders made it clear that the former president of Pakistan had no intention to leave the country and would prefer to get treatment in Karachi.

Senior PPP leader and spokesperson for the party Farhatullah Babar said that the doctors would suggest about the future course of treatment for Mr Zardari, but it was his personal wish and directives to his medical team that he would stay in the country for all medical needs.

“The physicians and team of doctors will examine his health and carry out a few tests to give final word for the future strategy,” Mr Babar told Dawn. “Once these procedures are done, then Mr Zardari and the party would decide about the future treatment plan and its necessary arrangements. However, it is very clear from day one that Mr Zardari doesn’t want to leave the country and [wants] to be treated in the country. The same resolve has been shown by party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari multiple times.”

Mr Zardari had arrived in Karachi on Friday from Rawalpindi along with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in the latter’s official plane after the former president was granted bail from the Islamabad High Court.

He was accompanied by his children Bilawal and Aseefa. He was granted bail on medical grounds by the IHC and expected to head straight to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases or the Ziauddin Hospital after reaching Karachi.

However, PPP leaders and Sindh government officials said Mr Zardari was initially brought to his Bilawal House residence where his doctors carried out preliminary examinations.

The situation has not changed yet and Mr Zardari was still staying in Bilawal House where he had been visited by doctors and his medical team.

Moreover, a key member of the Sindh cabinet also ruled out the possibility of Mr Zardari leaving the country for treatment.

Addressing a press conference at his office, Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani responding to a question vis-à-vis Mr Zardari’s treatment in Karachi, said he would be treated in the country and “he has no intention to get treatment abroad”.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2019