Doctors have advised shifting Nawaz Sharif to US for treatment: PML-N party

The opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party on Monday said that doctors treating Nawaz Sharif have advised that the former ailing prime minister should be shifted from London to the US for further medical treatment.

PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, however, said that shifting him from London to the US will be challenging for the medical team considering his current health condition.

She also said that the medical reports of the former prime minister revealed that there was an 88 per cent blockage in arteries circulating blood to his brain, The Express Tribune reported.

"Doctors have advised him to consult an expert in the United States. However, transporting him there poses an immense challenge for the medical team," Aurangzeb was quoted as saying.

The party's spokesperson stressed that Sharif will soon undergo a biopsy in light of his latest positron emission tomography (PET) scan and said that the platelet count of the ailing leader is showing no improvement.

"There has been no improvement in his platelet count despite the high doses of steroids, which were also causing his blood sugar levels to rise," she said, adding that the reason for the dwindling platelet count is yet to be determined.

Sharif, a former three-time Pakistan prime minister, is currently receiving treatment at the Harvey Clinic in London.

He arrived in the UK in an air ambulance accompanied by his younger brother and PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif and personal physician Dr Adnan Malik on November 20. This came days after the Lahore High Court had ordered the federal government to strike off his name from the Exit Control List (ECL) for four weeks.

On October 27, the Islamabad High Court had granted an eight-week bail on medical grounds to Sharif, who is serving a seven-year jail term in the Al-Azizia corruption case.

However, the 69-year-old former leader has rejected the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government's condition for submitting an indemnity bond as a guarantee for returning to Pakistan after his treatment.