LAHORE: Dr. Yasmeen Rashid, Provincial Minister of Punjab for primary and secondary healthcare, spoke at a press conference in regards to Nawaz Sharif’s health situation.

“The Ministry of Interior wrote a letter to me saying they want Nawaz Sharif to be treated abroad. Some treatments are not found here therefore it’d be wise to send him.”

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“Then they asked me to ask the board what they think should happen. The board says that we have the discharge summary, everyone has it. I told them, everything about the tests/treatment is there. They said, we want a detailed summary. They emphasized on the second paragraph centering on the recommendation to send him abroad. Please write to us about that if he should be sent abroad or not,” she went on to say.

“The board had a meeting last night and they said that because Nawaz Sharif’s health condition is unstable. There are some tests that cannot be taken here and they are risky tests so we recommend that he should be sent abroad.”

“We want each of his tests and interventions required with risk factor involved to be specifically mentioned so that in telling the interior ministry we can tell them which risk factors are involved. For example, he has to have a PET scan done, we’ve recommended it, they can be faulty and we might have a problem. Also to tell us which treatments are unavailable in the public sector hospitals of Pakistan and thirdly, what are those tests that can be sent abroad?”

“Lastly, why he is a high-risk patient and his history of criticality may also be elaborated.”

“Please tell us all of these reasons so that we know when we speak to the interior ministry that we’re recommending him to be sent abroad on what basis.”

“We stopped there and said this report was insufficient.”

“We’ve asked them to send us a detailed report and once we receive it, we’ll decide and to put all those rumors to silence.”

“There is no political pressure whatsoever, I am a doctor and I felt the report was lacking sufficient detail.”

When asked about the reality of his condition, Dr. Rashid said, “For me, Mr Nawaz Sharif is a high profile patient.”

“He is a sick man.”