KARACHI: Dr Asim Hussain was admitted to an extraordinarily guarded medical facility of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) a day after a medical board recommended treatment for his psychological ailments, said hospital officials on Wednesday.

The former petroleum minister was shifted to a room in the officers ward, said a senior JPMC official.

JPMC executive director Dr Anissuddin Bhatti said he was shifted to hospital on Wednesday evening after a five-member board constituted by him on the directive of an accountability court said the latter needed to be admitted to hospital.

Sources said Dr Hussain, who faces charges of terror financing and graft, suffered from neurological and psychological ailments and was shifted to the JPMC guarded by the paramilitary Rangers and police.

After his admission to the facility located in a secluded corner of the sprawling hospital, the JPMC security guards were seen highly vigilant as they were not allowing anyone, including hospital employees, without official identity cards to enter the premises.

Media teams, too, comprising reporters, camera persons, technical staff and digital satellite news gathering vehicles were asked to stay outside the hospital on Rafiqui Shaheed Road.

Security outside the ward and the hospital was manned by the hospital guards, though sources said a good number of policemen and Rangers personnel were present on the premises. Officials of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), too, were present inside the ward, said a source.

According to the hospital sources, soon after his arrival at the JPMC his tests were taken by doctors. But certain goods sent by the detained patient’s own hospital, Ziauddin Hospital, were not allowed by the NAB officials, sources claimed.

Earlier, a five-member medical board headed by eminent psychiatrist Dr Syed Haroon Ahmed was constituted as per direction of the accountability court on Jan 18 for the examination of Dr Hussain, a close aide to former president Asif Ali Zardari. The board examined Dr Hussain on Tuesday and after the check-up he was diagnosed with suffering from neurological problems apart from psychological disturbances and in need of urgent treatment.

Dr Hussain has been examined several times in the past. His stay at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases ended after a week when he was taken away by the Rangers “without informing the administration”, the hospital said, while he was still under treatment.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2016