Sharif shifted to hospital from jail

Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is serving a seven-year jail term over graft charges, was on Saturday shifted to a hospital here, officials said, days after a special medical board concluded that he has developed cardiac complications.

Sharif, 69, who is lodged in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption case, was admitted to the Services Hospital.

"Nawaz Sharif has been moved to hospital from jail," officials said.

The former premier was served tea and snacks by the hospital administration before proceeding with any medical examination, they said, adding that he was shifted to the hospital's VIP room.

Security has been beefed up in and around the hospital, but the officials remained tight-lipped over the duration of Sharif's stay in the hospital.

Earlier in the day, the Pakistan's Punjab provincial government directed the jail administration to shift Sharif to the government-run Services Hospital on the recommedndation of the medical board.

In a directive to the jail administration, the Punjab government said: "In view of Nawaz Sharif's multiple co-morbidities and complex cardiac history with multiple cardiac procedures with complications abroad, it is advised that he be admitted for further investigations/management in a hospital where multidisciplinary care is available".

It further said Sharif should be shifted to the Services Hospital, Lahore to "carry out detailed medical examination and management for minimum required period".

Punjab Information Minister Fayazul Hasan Chohan said the government has decided to shift Sharif to hospital in the light of the report of the six-member medical board.

"The government was providing best health facilities to Sharif in jail but since the medical board suggested his hospitalisation, the government has no objection to it," the minister said.

On Wednesday, the 'larger special medical board' headed by Dr Hamid Sharif Khan examined Sharif in the jail.

The three-time prime minister, who is serving a seven-year imprisonment in Al-Azizia Mills corruption case, has been facing multiple health issues.

He was earlier rushed to Lahore's Punjab Institute of Cardiology after he complained of heart-related complications. He was later discharged from the hospital and taken back to jail following the medical tests.

Sharif's personal cardiologist Dr Adnan Khan said: "Since day one, I have been mentioning that Sharif is having frequent episodes of angina, which was confirmed by Thallium scan. The government functionaries kept denying".

His family has also demanded that he should be shifted to a hospital as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supremo was not getting proper medical facilities in the jail.

Sharif has been behind the bars since December 24, after an accountability court convicted him in one of the three corruption cases filed under the direction of the Supreme Court.

The Al-Azizia Steel Mill case was about setting up steel mills in Saudi Arabia allegedly with corruption money.

Three corruption cases - Avenfield properties case, Flagship investment case and Al-Azizia steel mills case - were launched against the Sharif family by the National Accountability Bureau in 2017 following a judgment by the Supreme Court that disqualified Sharif in the Panama Papers case in 2017.

He was sentenced to 11 years in jail in the Avenfield properties case by an anti-corruption court.

Sharif was released in September after another court suspended his sentence pending an appeal hearing -- but was again sentenced to seven years in prison for corruption in a second case.