Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif suffered angina pain on Saturday morning while undergoing treatment at a Lahore hospital, DawnNewsTV quoted Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) Principal Prof Dr Mahmood Ayaz as saying.

The doctor refuted reports that the PML-N leader had suffered a heart attack.

Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid held a press conference in the afternoon during which she revealed that Sharif had also experienced angina pain the night of October 24.

"Cardiologists were on hand at that time and they conducted some tests. According to an enzymes test, he had experienced a minor heart attack that night," she said.

Rashid said that owing to timely treatment, the echocardiography done the following day showed "no signs of any sort of damage to the heart whatsoever". She said that his ECG reports since have been "comparable".

The health minister further said that today's blood pressure and fasting blood sugar tests show that both indicators were controlled as compared to fluctuations in the past few days.

She said that Nawaz's platelets, which had experienced a drastic drop and owing to which he had been admitted to the hospital, are now at 45,000 per microliter. Rashid said that of the platelet composition, 35 per cent are "young platelets which indicates that his bone marrow is functioning well".

Meanwhile at the Islamabad High Court, where a request seeking Sharif's release on bail will be heard later in the day, the PML-N supremo's lawyer Khawaja Haris claimed that Sharif had suffered a "minor heart attack" last night and that his "life is in danger".

Editorial: Nawaz Sharif’s health

While speaking to reporters at the hospital, Dr Ayaz said that Sharif's platelet count is now rising. He is administered around 16 injections of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) every day, the professor added.

He said the platelet count of the former premier has now reached 40,000.

Following the angina attack, Sharif is being given drugs for the thinning of his blood. He neither needed to be put on oxygen or ventilator nor was that done, Dr Ayaz said.

"We are trying to improve Nawaz Sharif's condition," the doctor added.

Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz is also under treatment at the same hospital. Dr Ayaz said another specialist is looking after her.

The former prime minister was rushed to SIMS earlier this week after his personal physician raised an alarm about his deteriorating health.

On Tuesday, doctors at the hospital had termed Sharif's condition as 'serious' despite the transfusion of three mega units of platelets within hours of his admission.

According to the medical tests carried out on Tuesday, the platelet count of the former premier had "dropped from 16,000 to a critical level of 2,000" when he was brought to hospital late on Monday night, prompting the medical board members to go for "immediate transfusion of the platelets to save his life", one of the board members had said.

After a struggle of three days, a six-member medical board, headed by Dr Ayaz, on Thursday diagnosed the reason for Sharif's declining health.

"It is acute immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), a bleeding disorder in which the immune system destroys platelets," a board member had told Dawn. He said the treatment was given to the former prime minister in the light of his diagnosis. "We are hopeful that his condition will improve in a few days," he added.