Nawaz Sharif experienced angina attack today: doctor

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif suffered angina pain on Saturday morning while undergoing treatment at a Lahore hospital, DawnNewsTV quoted Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) Principal Prof Dr Mahmood Ayaz as saying.

The doctor refuted reports that the PML-N leader had suffered a heart attack.

Meanwhile at the Islamabad High Court, where a request seeking Sharif’s release on bail will be heard later in the day, the PML-N supremo’s lawyer Khawaja Haris claimed that Sharif had suffered a “minor heart attack” last night and that his “life is in danger”.

While speaking to reporters at the hospital, Dr Ayaz said that Sharif’s platelet count is now rising. He is administered around 16 injections of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) every day, the professor added.

He said the platelet count of the former premier has now reached 40,000.

Following the angina attack, Sharif is being given drugs for the thinning of his blood. He neither needed to be put on oxygen or ventilator nor was that done, Dr Ayaz said.

“We are trying to improve Nawaz Sharif’s condition,” the doctor added.

Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz is also under treatment at the same hospital. Dr Ayaz said another specialist is looking after her.

The former prime minister was rushed to SIMS earlier this week after his personal physician raised an alarm about his deteriorating health.

On Tuesday, doctors at the hospital had termed Sharif’s condition as ‘serious’ despite the transfusion of three mega units of platelets within hours of his admission.

According to the medical tests carried out on Tuesday, the platelet count of the former premier had “dropped from 16,000 to a critical level of 2,000” when he was brought to hospital late on Monday night, prompting the medical board members to go for “immediate transfusion of the platelets to save his life”, one of the board members had said.

After a struggle of three days, a six-member medical board, headed by Dr Ayaz, on Thursday diagnosed the reason for Sharif’s declining health.

“It is acute immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), a bleeding disorder in which the immune system destroys platelets,” a board member had told Dawn. He said the treatment was given to the former prime minister in the light of his diagnosis. “We are hopeful that his condition will improve in a few days,” he added.