PML-N says danger to Nawaz Sharif's health increasing as time progresses

Danger to former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's health is increasing day by day as he was not being allowed to travel abroad for treatment, said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) representative Marriyum Aurangzeb on Sunday.

Aurangzeb, while speaking to media, said the doctors had given Sharif a heavy dose of steroids to prepare him for his travel abroad, reported Geo News.

"Nawaz Sharif's treatment abroad is being delayed by the delay in taking his name off the ECL. The doctors have said that he cannot be given heavy doses of steroids time and again," she said.

Adding that it will become almost impossible to shift Sharif overseas for treatment in case of a medical emergency, Aurangzeb said: "Doctors have said that Sharif needs to be shifted abroad at once. Delay in his travel will increase dangers to his health."

Further, she said that medical experts were doing their best to increase the platelet count of the former premier to ensure his health does not deteriorate when he travels.

After his health deteriorated, the Pakistan government earlier this week allowed Sharif to travel abroad for treatment. However, his name wasn't removed from the Exit Control List (ECL).

Sharif, 69, was admitted to the Services Hospital in Lahore on October 22 from Pakistan's anti-graft body's custody after his platelets dropped to a critically low level of 2,000.

According to Pakistani media reports, the former premier is likely to travel abroad along with his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif, who is the president of PML-N.

Nawaz had earlier insisted on getting treated only in Lahore.

The Islamabad High Court had last week granted bail to Sharif for eight weeks, suspending his seven-year sentence in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference on medical grounds. Earlier, he had also secured bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case from the Lahore High Court on the same ground.