LAHORE: The Services Hospital has no cardiac unit to provide the required care to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif who was shifted there on Monday night following his deteriorating health condition primarily due to the critically low platelet count.

A team of heart specialists was dispatched to the health facility from the Jinnah Hospital to provide cardiac care to the former prime minister. A senior consultant and ECG technician were sent there and an ambulance equipped with cardiac equipment was also stationed there.

An official told Dawn that the missing facility of cardiac services in one of the mega teaching hospitals of the provincial capital was gross negligence on the part of its administration and the government. He said the Services Hospital also requested the senior cardiologists of the Punjab Institute of Cardiology to examine Nawaz Sharif.

PIC Chief Executive Prof Saqib Shafi visited the hospital and reviewed the test reports of Mr Sharif and issued necessary instructions to the duty doctors.

The official lamented that there was only cardiac care unit (CCU) which was managed by the medical unit of the hospital. A cardiologist has been made available there for consultancy as and when required but there is no specialised unit to admit patients to perform any procedure.

The official said the heart patients visiting there for procedures or interventions were being referred either to the PIC or other health facilities.

Mr Sharif had developed complications after he twice underwent open heart surgery and implantation of seven stents. He is also under medication for diabetes and kidney functions due to high creatinine level. The risk factors due to multiple diseases increased manifold when his health deteriorated on Monday night due to critically low range of platelet count.

The cardiac team of the Jinnah Hospital at the disposal of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to provide emergency cover to the former PM was alerted when he was taken to the hospital.

The official said the former prime minister was under medication on the advice of the doctors of the UK.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2019