ISLAMABAD: The PTI took exception to the government’s “secrecy” regarding ex-prime minister Imran Khan after it emerged that he underwent a follow-up eye treatment at an Islamabad hospital in the early hours of Tuesday.
According to a doctor at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), Imran was brought to the hospital for a second dose of anti-VEGF intravitreal injection on February 24.
Imran’s eye ailment — right central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) — came to light in late January. His first medical procedure, which was carried out on January 24, was confirmed by the government five days later.
Since then, the government and the opposition have also been engaged in a blame game, with the latter accusing the former of a lack of transparency on the matter, of not ensuring appropriate treatment for Imran, and of not allowing his personal physicians access to him. The government denies these allegations.
The Pims doctor said: “Prior to the procedure, he was examined by a board of specialists: a consultant cardiologist who also performed echocardiography and ECG (result: normal) and a consultant physician.
“After obtaining informed consent, and under standard monitoring, precautionary measures and protocols in the operation theatre, he was injected with a second dose of intravitreal injection of anti-VEGF under the guidance of microscopy by consultant phthalmologist, and a consultant vitreo-retinal surgeon of Pims and Al-Shifa Eye Hospital.”
It may be mentioned that Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital is located in Rawalpindi, whereas Shifa International Hospital — where Imran’s family and personal doctors want him to be taken — is in Islamabad.
The procedure was performed as a day care surgery, the Pims doctor said about Imran’s treatment.
During the course of his stay, Imran remained vitally stable before, during, and after the procedure, and was discharged along with instructions for care, follow-up advice, and the documents, the doctor stated.
Imran is due to visit the hospital once more — although it is unclear when — according to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, who said days ago, “We have to again take him to the hospital twice.”
PTI objects to ‘clandestine actions’
Reacting to the development, the PTI’s official X account said: “The situation demands transparency, not secrecy.” The party said such “clandestine actions only give rise to more questions.”
“What are they hiding?” the party asked, reiterating its demand that Imran be taken to Shifa International Hospital for “independent and transparent medical care”.
The PTI re-shared a video showing a convoy passing through at night, in which a person can be heard saying the vehicles were “returning from Pims”.
It could not be verified whether the convoy was carrying the former premier.
In a post on X, PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan said, “At 2am today, I was informed this much in a message that Khan sahib was brought to Pims for administering an injection.”
“I was not informed in advance,” he claimed.
The PTI chairman stressed, “Our demand even today is the same that a complete checkup and treatment of Khan sahib be performed in Shifa International Hospital in the presence of his personal doctors and family members.”
The government has said it had invited Gohar to be present during an examination of Imran at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail on February 15, but the PTI leader refused, citing party consultations.
In her statement on X, Imran’s sister Aleema Khanum reiterated: “We do not trust the diagnosis or test reports from government medical facilities.”
She said: “From the news, we found out that Imran Khan was taken to Pims again in the middle of the night, supposedly for his second injection in the eye.
“When the law requires that family be informed before any medical procedure is conducted on a prisoner, why was the family not informed?” she asked.
Expressing her lack of trust in the government-affiliated treatments, she claimed, “There are already reports coming from PIMS that the doctors are being threatened with serious consequences if any information is leaked about Imran Khan.”
Aleema further said, “Our family rejects their reports, even if they issue these doctored reports to the public.
“We stand by our demand that Imran Khan be examined and treated in Shifa International (Islamabad) by specialists, under the supervision of Imran Khan’s personal doctors and in the presence of his family.”
She contended that Pims was “not equipped to treat anyone for the alleged condition that has developed in Imran Khan’s eye”.
“It is criminal what this government is doing, and they will be held accountable for each and every violation and crime they are committing against Imran Khan,” Aleema asserted.
Former PTI MNA Omar Ayub Khan termed it “totally unacceptable” that Imran was treated in the absence of his personal physicians.
Addressing Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, he said, “Now is the time to stand and be counted. Issue orders to ensure PM Imran Khan’s treatment in the presence of his physicians and in the hospital of his choice (Shifa International Islamabad).”
