LAHORE: Leaders of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) traded barbs on Sunday over the issue of former premier Nawaz Sharif’s treatment abroad.

The former prime minister, serving a jail term in a corruption case, had gone to London in November last year for treatment of his complicated heart problem after multiple medical boards formed by the governmentitselfsuggested that treatment of the ailment was not possible in the country.

Mr Sharif is still abroad, where the corona virus pandemic reportedly made it difficult for him to seek medical care.

Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid said in a statement here on Sunday that Mr Sharif had been allowed to go abroad for treatment on humanitarian grounds. She claimed that the PML-N supremo, who was admitted to the Services Hospital after falling ill in Kot Lakhpat Jail, had sought that he would consult his personal physician, Dr Adnan Khan, for treatment and then requested to be shifted to the Sharif Medical City Hospital, a health facility run by the Sharifs on the outskirts of Lahore.

Then he demanded that he must be sent abroad for treatment, she said, adding Nawaz Sharif had given his word to the government as well as the court (the Lahore High Court) that he would return soon after hisrecovery.

The minister complained that N-League was “playing foul” in the name of treatment of Nawaz Sharif as the government had not only diagnosed all the diseases afflicting the ex-PM but also started treating the same and the count of his platelets was on the rise.

Mr Sharif was also offered treatment at the Aga Khan Hospital in Karachi, but he refused, she said, adding perhaps he had intended to go abroad from day one.

Responding to the minister’s allegations, Punjab PML-N Information Secretary Azma Bukhari wondered at the reaction of Dr Rashid who, she said, had personally gone through medical reports of Mr Sharif many times.

Ms Bukhari said no one knew better than Dr Rashid and Dr Faisal, special assistant to PM Imran Khan on health, about the ailment of Mr Sharif.

The N League leader asked if Dr Rashid was telling the truth now or in the past when the health minister had been supporting the suggestion for sending the former prime minister abroad for better treatment.

Sarcastically saying that Dr Rashid’s change of stance made the people doubtfulabout her medical degree, Ms Bukhari added the minister should resign from her office at once after such a ‘blunder’.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2020