Nawaz Sharif meets medical experts for check-up in London

Medical experts in London are assessing Nawaz Sharif’s health condition on Wednesday after which a decision would be taken on whether the former Pakistani Prime Minister needs to be flown to a hospital in the US, his close aides said. The 69-year-old Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief has been resting at his Avenfield House residence at Park Lane in central London and has appointments with Harley Street doctors through the course of the next few days, Senior PML-N aides said.

"He has appointments with consultants at a Harley Street clinic. After the medical reports, we will decide the way forward," a PML-N UK spokesperson said. Sharif, accompanied by his brother Shehbaz Sharif and personal physician Dr Adnan Khan, landed at the Heathrow Airport by an air ambulance flight from Lahore via Doha on Tuesday night. He was driven to his home where his sons Hasan and Hussain Nawaz, daughter Asma Sharif, party aides and relatives were waiting to receive him amid supportive slogan-shouting by his supporters.

"I would urge not to make this a political issue in any way. At this time, the most important thing is Mian Saheb’s (Sharif) health and well-being," Hussain Nawaz told reporters outside the Avenfield House on Tuesday night. "I have said that an investigation into the possible link between thrombocytopenia, or a drop in platelet count, and poisoning, is needed but I want to stress again that for us at present the main focus is that he receives the medical attention required," he said, adding that he would like to take his father to a hospital in Boston, US, but the decision would be up to the medical experts in London.

The three-time prime minister has been diagnosed with an immune system disorder and doctors in Pakistan recommended that he should go abroad for treatment as his condition continued to deteriorate despite the best possible care in the country. The former Pakistani premier was sentenced to seven years in prison on corruption charges in December last year. Since he was granted bail last month on medical grounds, his party and family members have been working on getting him removed him from a travel ban list to allow him to seek treatment overseas.

Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government had demanded that Sharif pay a bond of 7 billion Pakistani Rupees (estimated USD 45 million) as a condition of his travel abroad - which the PML-N rejected. After days of deadlock over the condition, he was finally allowed to leave his home in Lahore to travel to London for treatment following an undertaking to the court that he would return to Pakistan within four weeks.

Sharif denies all charges of corruption against him and had been granted bail by the Islamabad High Court and Lahore High Court on humanitarian grounds earlier this month.

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