Ailing former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif to undergo bone marrow test: Report

Pakistan's ailing former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will undergo a bone marrow test for his cardiac and haematology complications, a media report said on Thursday.

Sharif, 69, left for London on November 19 in an air ambulance for medical treatment after the Lahore High Court allowed him to travel abroad for four weeks.

"The most important right now is his bone marrow test," his son Hussein Nawaz was quoted as saying by Dawn News.

"My request is that everyone prays for his health, he said.

Bone marrow tests can reveal whether an individual's bone marrow is healthy and making normal amounts of blood cells.

These procedures are used by doctors to diagnose and monitor blood and marrow diseases, including some cancers. Sharif's low platelet count condition, known as thrombocytopenia, has prompted doctors to test his bone marrow sample.

The Sharif family has previously said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader might be taken to the US for specialised treatment.

Last week, Sharif's personal physician Dr Adnan Khan said that he will be hospitalised in the coming days to undergo an angiogram which will be followed by a heart procedure.

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

The former Pakistani premier was sentenced to seven years in prison in a corruption case in December last year. Since he was granted bail last month on medical grounds, his party and family members worked hard to get his name removed from a travel ban list to allow him to seek treatment aborad.