The medical board treating former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif at the Services Hospital for the last two weeks has recommended his treatment abroad keeping in view complications of his disease.
“We have recommended genetic tests followed by cardiac treatment under one roof which requires more diagnosis to provide further treatment to Nawaz Sharif. The panel of doctors has come to a unanimous decision that since the complete genetic test facility is not available in Pakistan, the patient requires treatment abroad,” the medical board head and Services Institute of Medical Sciences principal Dr Mahmood Ayaz said.
“Doctors have provided best treatment to the patient [Sharif] here. The patient is stable as compared to the initial days when he was shifted to the hospital. However, his platelets are not stable and the doctors recommended his treatment abroad,” he said, adding that during the course of treatment the former premier had suffered an angina attack, besides complaints of bleeding from gums and some other parts, because of frequent changes in platelet count.
The medical board consisting of four senior and leading haematologists has diagnosed immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) disease - a disorder that can lead to easy or excessive bruising and bleeding - in the patient.
Dr Ayaz said the doctors had so far given Sharif seven mega units to improve his platelets which were currently ranging between 30,000 and 40,000. “We are controlling blood pressure and sugar of the patient. He has also been advised exercise and 
walk,” he said.
According to the doctors, 50,000 platelets and beyond are required for a patient to be declared fit for [air] travel.
Earlier in the day, a medical team of the Sharif Medical City (SMC) in Raiwind arrived at the Services Hospital to shift the former premier to this facility which is near his residence. It was also 
established by the Sharif family.
Former finance minister Ishaq Dar’s son Ali Dar tweeted that arrangements had been made at the SMC to shift Nawaz Sharif.
A source in the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) said that the doctors treating Sharif were worried about his health because of continuous drop in platelets which was yet to be diagnosed.
“Whatever treatment the doctors had in Pakistan they tried and exhausted and their advice [for Sharif’s treatment aboard] cannot be ignored,” he said.
Asked if Sharif would consider leaving for London for his treatment on the doctors’ advice as he earlier appeared reluctant, the PML-N source said: “Whenever his going abroad is decided it will be the doctors and his [Sharif] decision.”
PML-N stalwarts Khawaja Asif and Ahsan Iqbal have already declared that leaving the country for treatment will solely be the decision of Nawaz Sharif.
“If going abroad for treatment is the only option for Nawaz Sharif, then the government will find a way,” a private TV channel quoted Interior Minister Ijaz Shah as saying.
The minister had last week disclosed that the name of Sharif was not on the Exit Control List (ECL). “I checked the record and we did not put Nawaz Sharif on ECL,” he had said.
Last week, the Islamabad High Court granted bail to Nawaz Sharif for eight weeks, suspending his seven-year sentence in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference on medical grounds.
Earlier, the former prime minister had secured bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case from the LHC on the similar ground.
On December 24 last year, an accountability court had sentenced the former prime minister to seven years in prison in the Al-Azizia case but acquitted him in the Flagship reference.