Pakistani former prime minister taken to private hospital for medical treatment
Local media reported that former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was taken from prison to a hospital under tight security, after the government said it would comply with the Supreme Court order.
Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan gives a press conference at his home, in Lahore, Pakistan, on May 18, 2023. (Photo: AP/K.M. Chaudary)
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ISLAMABAD: Imprisoned former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was taken to a private hospital in the capital after midnight Thursday (Aug 20) for medical treatment, his party said, hours after a senior Cabinet minister pledged to comply with a Supreme Court order on his care.
The minister also said the government could consider treatment abroad if adequate care was unavailable at a government facility.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, said in a brief statement that he was transferred from Adiala prison to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad following a Supreme Court order earlier this week. The party provided no further details.
It was unclear whether Khan would be returned to prison after the examination or allowed to remain at the hospital for medical treatment.
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Khan’s party and family have demanded that he should be allowed to stay at the hospital.
The latest development comes hours after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said the government had approached the Supreme Court to seek clarification on whether the medical relief granted to Khan applied only to the former premier or could be extended to other prisoners.
Chaudhry’s comments came two days after a three-judge Supreme Court panel ordered authorities to take Khan to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad for a medical examination, following months of concerns from his family and personal physicians about his health and access to medical care. The court ordered that he be examined by a medical board that includes specialists and one of his personal physicians, Faisal Sultan.
Earlier Thursday, Chaudhry wrote on X that the government would fully comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling and that its request for clarification was not intended to defy or delay implementation of the decision. He later said all arrangements were in place to transfer Khan from prison to the hospital.
After midnight, local media reported that Khan – who has not been seen publicly since his imprisonment in 2023 in a graft case – was being examined at the hospital.
The government maintains that under existing rules, prisoners are provided medical treatment in prison and can be transferred to government hospitals when necessary.
Concerns about Khan’s health intensified in late January after his family said he had lost about 85% of the vision in his right eye, a claim the government disputed. Authorities later said Khan had regained about 70% of his vision in the eye and that his condition was improving.
The former cricket star turned politician was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022 and has been imprisoned since 2023 after being convicted in multiple cases.
Source: AP/fs
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