Ailing PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif is set to leave the country today in a "high-end" air ambulance, which is expected to arrive in Lahore from Doha early morning.
Arrangements for the former prime minister's departure have been made at Lahore airport's Haj Terminal. According to PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, Nawaz will be accompanied by his personal physician Dr Adnan Khan and party president Shehbaz Sharif. She said that doctors have completed a medical examination of Nawaz ahead of his departure and he has been administered high doses of steroids and medicines to ensure that his condition remains stable during travel.
An intensive care unit and an operation theatre has been set up in the air ambulance and a team of doctors and paramedics will also be on board, Dr Khan said in a tweet last night.
"Former PM Sharif will travel to London in a high-end air ambulance equipped with a fully functional and staffed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Operation Theatre. A team of doctors and paramedics will be on board headed by an intensivist. ETD (LHE): Tuesday 19 Nov morning."
The development comes a day after the interior ministry issued a notification, allowing the former prime minister to travel abroad for medical treatment, saying that the decision was an "interim arrangement" in the light of the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) order, which was passed last week.
In its notification, the ministry reproduced the undertakings provided by Shehbaz Sharif and Nawaz to the LHC in which the terms of their travel and return have been laid out. The former prime minister's name remains on the Exit Control List (ECL).
After much deliberation and meetings, the government had agreed to allow Nawaz to travel abroad, with the condition that indemnity bonds amounting to Rs7-7.5 billion be furnished. The PML-N had rejected the condition and had taken the matter to the LHC, which — in a blow to the Centre — ordered the federal government to remove his name from the ECL without any conditions. The verdict was issued after Nawaz signed a court-approved undertaking, saying that he would return to the country within four weeks.
Shehbaz too signed an undertaking, which stated he would "ensure return" of his brother "within four weeks or on certification by doctors that he has regained his health and is fit to return back to Pakistan". Nawaz was allowed to leave the country for a period of four weeks, extendable on the basis of medical reports.
Nawaz, who has been diagnosed with an immune system disorder, was recommended by doctors to go abroad as his condition continued to deteriorate despite treatment. He was rushed to Services hospital from the Kot Lakhpat jail — where he was serving a prison sentence granted by an accountability court that found him guilty of corruption in the Al Azizia — after Dr Khan raised an alarm over the former prime minister's deteriorated health.
Nawaz was granted bail by the Islamabad High Court on humanitarian grounds, in the Al Azizia case earlier this month. He also obtained bail in the ongoing Chaudhry Sugar Mills case, in which he is a suspect, from the LHC.
source https://www.dawn.com/news/1517603/nawaz-to-leave-country-for-medical-treatment-today
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