RAWALPINDI: Son-in-law of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, retired Capt Mohammad Safdar will remain in the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) the next two days. Doctors have conducted various medical tests but an initial report suggests he has high body fats.

Mohammad Safdar was moved to the hospital on Thursday due to a stomach problem.

He has been sentenced to a year in prison by an accountability court and is imprisoned in Adiala Jail along with Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz.

A medical board constituted for examining Mohammad Safdar received medical reports suggesting he has high body fats due to an improper diet.

Senior Pims doctors told Dawn that the reports say Safdar’s liver and kidneys are functioning normally and that his diabetes is also under control.

He said the patient had been complaining of constipation and stomach pain. The doctor added that his triglyceride level was found to be high. Triglycerides develop in the body when one consumes more fats than they burn.

Former MNA incarcerated in ephedrine case; Hanif Abbasi also taken to jail hospital with chest pain, troubled breathing

He said the medical team had suggested 10 tests for Mohammad Safdar and that the majority of the tests had come back normal. His sugar level was abnormal at first and is now under control.

Pims Spokesperson Dr Waseem Khawaja said most of Mohammad Safdar’s reports were found to be normal and that his health is improving. He said the patient is out of danger and that a medical team consisting of senior doctors is observing his health.

“No decision has been made in regards to discharging him from the hospital as it depends on the suggestions of the medical team,” he said.

The Pims administration has constituted a five-member medical board for Mohammad Safdar which is headed by head of general surgery Prof Tanveer Khaliq and includes Dr Atif Inam Shami from surgery, Dr Mashood from gastroenterology, Dr Fibha Syed from general medicine and Dr Mujahid Raza from radiology.

Safdar had earlier undergone a gastric bypass which is a type of weight loss surgery, and was advised to take food as suggested by doctors.

After Safdar, PML-N leader and former MNA Hanif Abbasi also became ill and was taken to the jail hospital on Friday with complaints of chest pain.

The Control of Narcotics Substances Court had sentenced him to life imprisonment on July 22 in the Ephedrine quota case.

A senior Adiala jail officer told Dawn that the former MNA was complaining of problems in breathing and chest pain in the morning. Jail doctors had examined him and moved him into the jail hospital.

He said Abbasi was feeling better and that an ECG will be conducted after which it will be decided if he needs medical care outside the jail.

When contacted, Hanif Abbasi’s son, Hammas Abbasi, who met his father Friday morning, said the former MNA was a heart patient with two blocked arteries.

“He also has chronic pollen allergies and he is having trouble breathing in the recent weather,” he said, adding that the jail doctors had told him an ECG will be conducted soon.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2018