Ailing former Pak PM Nawaz Sharif leaves for London for treatment

Pakistan's ailing former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday left for London in an air ambulance to seek better medical treatment for multiple diseases, days after a court here allowed him to travel abroad for four weeks after he legally challenged the Imran Khan government's condition of furnishing an indemnity bond worth Rs 700 crore.

The 69-year-old 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 - arrived from Doha.

The three-time prime minister has been diagnosed with an immune system disorder and doctors recommended that he should go abroad for treatment as his condition continued to deteriorate despite best possible care in Pakistan.

Sharif is accompanied by his younger brother and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, his personal physician Adnan Khan and other paramedical personnel.

Pakistani television stations showed footage of Sharif being helped to board the plane.

PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Auranzeb told PTI that Sharif would be taken to Harely Street Clinic upon arrival in London tonight for his treatment and, if required, he may be shifted to the US (Boston) for further treatment.

She said that doctors examined Sharif before Sharif left 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 long journey.

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.

Soon after Sharif left Lahore, Prime Minister Khan aide Firdous Ashiq Awan wished the former premier a "speedy recovery so that he can return and face (the courts)".

In a tweet, she said: "(We are) praying that God grants a complete recovery to Nawaz Sharif. We are praying for his health and (for his) speedy recovery so that he can return and face the law.

"With his conduct, Prime Minister Imran Khan has set a golden example of respect for humanity and supremacy of law," she claimed.

Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry also reacted to Sharif going abroad and said that the "journey from 'why was I expelled' to 'expel me for God's sake' is now approaching its end".

"When such leadership demands respect for vote, it actually insults the democratic process," he said in a tweet. "I sympathise with those workers of the PML-N who consider Nawaz Sharif their leader and tire themselves day and night."