Doctors struggle with Sharif's fitness for foreign travel

Lahore: As former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif awaits his removal from the Exit Control List (ECL), doctors have continued to struggle to get his platelet levels up to the required mark for travel to London for further treatment.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb on Sunday said that a high dose of steroids had been administered to Sharif in preparation for his expected departure on Monday, Dawn news reported.

"Doctors have warned against giving him such high doses of steroids repeatedly," she said, adding: "They cannot risk any further damage in trying to get his platelet levels to rise."

Aurangzeb said that the drop in the former premier's platelet levels continues to worry doctors. "They are ambivalent about how to approach his treatment. They worry there might be a further deterioration in his health."

The PML-N leader said that if Sharif's health worsens any further, it will be "almost impossible to take him abroad".

The Islamabad High Court had last week granted bail to Nawaz 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 grounds.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Sunday said that "legal obstacles" to Sharif's departure were being removed as doctors had stressed that medical treatment abroad was needed to save his life.

The government on Saturday had delayed the removal of Sharif's name from the no-fly list, thus forcing a change in his plan to leave for London for treatment on Sunday, reports Dawn news.

Both the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Ministry of Interior couldn't arrive at a decision regarding the removal of the PML-N supremo's name from the ECL.