Former three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif – a month after being released on bail from a seven-year sentence in Al-Azizia case – has departed from Doha to London in an air ambulance , accompanied by his brother Shehbaz Sharif. The flight is scheduled to land at Heathrow International Airport at 18:30 PM GMT.
With the flying fuel of 10 hours and two pilots, the air ambulance is equipped with oxygen cylinders, ventilators, an intensive care unit, an operation theatre and other medical facilities, while two doctors, including Sharif’s personal physician Dr Adnan, and paramedics are also on board.
Prior to departure, the doctors inspected Sharif’s blood sugar level, blood pressure and performed a CBC test. Upon clearance of all medical tests and doctors’ recommendations, the air ambulance took off from the airport.
Former premier’s medication has been changed for enabling him to travel. Sharif will be shifted to the Harley Street Clinic in London immediately after landing.
All essential preparations to shift ailing Sharif were made, and a “high-end” air ambulance arrived at the airport from Doha. Sharif arrived at the airport’s Haj Terminal from Jati Umrah at 10am in a form of caravan.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders including Maryam Nawaz, retired captain Safdar, Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Pervez Rashid among senior politicians were present at the airport to see off the PML-N supremo. A large number of party workers were present at the airport to extend their best wishes to the party leader. An ambulance of the Sharif Medical City was also present at the airport.
Despite the convictions for corruption, Sharif remains popular among many people in Pakistan, and his health has dominated newspaper front pages and TV channels in recent weeks.
“Thank God that he has left for the medical treatment he needs urgently,” the party’s parliamentarian Ahsan Iqbal said.
“Nawaz Sharif will go to Boston after going through a detailed checkup in London. During his travel, he will stay in Doha for two hours,” Sharif’s close aide Pervaiz Rashid told Reuters.
But Sharif was only allowed to leave after agreeing to a series of conditions preventing him seeking exile, including submitting periodic medical reports notarized by Pakistan’s embassy in London, according to court documents seen by Reuters.
In a tweet shared on his official twitter handle on Tuesday morning before departure, Sharif’s personal physician Dr Adnan Khan stated that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will depart for London, UK, via Doha, Qatar, in an Airbus A-319-133LR / A7-MED Air Ambulance managed by Qatar Airways at 10am PST.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Pakistan’s ailing former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, will remain on the no-fly list and will have to show the court order to go to the UK for medical treatment on Tuesday, a media report quoting immigration sources said on Monday.
Sharif, 69, will leave for London on Tuesday by an air ambulance for treatment after the Lahore High Court allowed him to travel abroad for four weeks for medical care on his plea and rejected the Imran Khan government’s condition of furnishing an indemnity bond.
The name of Sharif will remain on the no-fly list or Exit Control List (ECL) even after the court allowed him to go abroad for medical treatment, Immigration sources were quoted as saying by the Geo News.
According to immigration officials, since the court granted the former premier an exemption on medical grounds to travel outside the country, he will have to produce the court order to get past immigration officials.
As per the law, Sharif’s name will remain on the ECL, but his exemption according to the court order will be mentioned in the computerised record, the report quoted sources in the interior ministry .
The three-time premier will have to produce his passport and the court order before the immigration officials to fly abroad from the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore on Tuesday morning.
“Former PM #NawazSharif will travel to London in a high-end Air Ambulance equipped with a fully functional & staffed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) & Operation Theatre (OT),” Dr Adnan Khan, Sharif’s personal doctor, tweeted.
“A team of doctors & paramedics will be on board headed by an Intensivist. ETD (LHE): Tuesday 19NOV19 Morning,” he added.
On Wednesday, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government granted a one-time permission to Sharif for four weeks to travel abroad for his treatment provided he submitted indemnity bonds worth Rs 700 crore.
Sharif challenged this condition in the court terming it ‘illegal’ and a “trap” of prime minister Khan to use them (bonds) for his political gains.
Sharif recently secured eight weeks bail on medical grounds from the Islamabad High Court in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case in which he was serving seven years imprisonment. He also got bail from the LHC in the money laundering case.
He agreed to go to the UK for treatment, heeding doctors’ advice and accepting his family’s request. He was scheduled to leave for London on a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight on Sunday. However, he could not leave as his name figured in the no fly-list.
