ISLAMABAD: The head of the medical board looking after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been hospitalised after a cardiac arrest.

Dr Ejaz Qadeer, who is also the joint executive director of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) has been provided medical treatment including a pacemaker, a small device placed in the chest or abdomen to control abnormal cardiac rhythms that uses electrical pulses to prompt the heart to beat at a normal rate.

A week after Sharif was sent to Adiala jail with his daughter Maryam Nawaz on July 13, the head of the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC) retired Maj Gen Dr Azhar Mehmood Kiyani suggested that he be shifted to the RIC because he was facing severe heart problems.

However, instead of moving him to the RIC, a medical board was formed to examine him and give a second opinion. The team visited the prison for almost a week and submitted a report stating that Sharif was fine and did not need to be brought to the hospital. However, Sharif was brought to Pims on July 29.

A hospital doctor, requesting anonymity, said the medical board was under pressure because of the importance and sensitivity of the matter.

“On the one hand we were being asked and recommended that Sharif should be shifted to the hospital but on the other hand, some elements were against it. Some media-persons were pressuring us by saying the patient was facing issues and should be shifted to the hospital, while some media groups were pushing us to announce Sharif was fine and pretending to be sick,” he said.

“Dr Qadeer is already a heart patient, due to which he could not sustain the pressure and suffered a heart attack,” the doctor said.

Pims Executive Director Dr Raja Amjad said Dr Qadeer had suffered cardiac blockage, and was immediately shifted to the cardiac centre and provided medical treatment. A pacemaker was also placed in his body.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2018