Pakistan's ailing former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday, 19 November, left for London in an air ambulance for medical treatment for multiple diseases, days after the Lahore High Court allowed him to travel abroad for four weeks and rejected the Imran Khan government's condition of furnishing an indemnity bond.
Sharif (69) is accompanied by his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif, his personal physician Adnan Khan and other personnel.
The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N) supremo left for London via Qatar after arriving at Lahore airport, where the air ambulance equipped with an intensive care unit and an operation theatre had arrived from Doha.
PMLN spokesperson Marriyum Auranzeb tod PTI that Sharif would be taken to Harely Street Clinic upon arrival in London for his treatment and, if required, he may be shifted to the US (Boston) for further treatment.
She said that before the departure the doctors examined Sharif at his Jati Umra residence in Lahore and gave him a heavy dose of steroids and medicines to ensure that his condition remains stable during the travel.
Sharif's physician Khan said in a tweet late on Wednesday that an intensive care unit and an operation theatre had been set up in the air ambulance and a team of doctors and paramedics will also be on board.
Sharif is suffering from multiple health complications, including erratic platelet count, and was treated at his residence near Lahore.
‘Sharif Taken Off No-Fly List’
On Saturday, the Lahore High Court allowed Sharif to travel abroad for four weeks for medical treatment. The four-week duration can be extended further on his doctors' recommendations.
The court also ordered the Imran Khan government to remove Sharif's name from the no-fly list or the Exit Control List (ECL).
On Wednesday last week, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government granted a one-time permission to Sharif for four weeks to travel abroad for his treatment provided he submitted indemnity bonds worth Rs 700 crore.
In December last year, an accountability court had sentenced Sharif to seven years in prison in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption case and acquitted him in the Flagship case.
The Sharif family has denied all corruption charges and termed them as politically motivated.
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