Court says proper medical treatment continues under prison rules as PTI requires access to personal doctors
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan. Photo: File
RAWALPINDI:
The Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Saturday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former prime minister Imran Khan’s request for a medical check-up by his personal doctors.
Judge Amjad Shah announced the reserved sentence in which the court stated that Khan’s proper medical treatment in accordance with prison rules is ongoing. The judge gave a short sentence.
Justice Shah heard the petition, which asked that the medical examination be conducted by doctors Drs. Asim, Dr. Khurram and Dr. Samina. The defense argued that medical examination by personal physicians is a constitutional, legal and moral right. It was also alleged that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was given access to personal doctors.
Read: Imran’s sisters dispute government’s demand to produce report, urges CJP to initiate contempt proceedings
Under Prison Rule 795, the administration is required to inform the family of any medical check-up, the defense argued. Further, the lawyer said that Imran Khan is a former prime minister and argued that this is his fundamental right.
Speaking to the media outside the ATC, Khan’s lawyer, Faisal Malik, said the superintendent of Adiala jail did not submit a medical report but said the PTI founder’s treatment is ongoing.
The verdict comes after much back and forth between the PTI and the federal government over Khan’s health. After reports emerged that the PTI founder was taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for eye treatment, the party stated that Khan’s family and lawyers were uninformed about his transfer to the hospital or about his medical condition.
PIMS previously confirmed that Imran Khan was taken to hospital where, after his consent was obtained, he received an anti-VEGF intravitreal injection to treat a right central retinal vein occlusion. PTI rejected the PIMS report on Khan’s eye treatment and demanded that he be treated at Shaukat Khanum Hospital and that his family be allowed to meet him.
Read more: Government reveals report on Imran’s eye treatment
PTI leaders had also staged a day-long sit-in outside the Supreme Court where they managed to secure assurances that the authorities would provide Imran Khan’s medical report to his family.
PTI General Secretary Salman Akram Raja had held a 30-minute meeting with CJP Afridi in which PTI’s concerns were formally conveyed. The Chief Justice, along with the Attorney General and the SC Registrar, had assured that the medical reports would be given to Imran Khan and his sisters and that his personal doctors would be given access to him once the reports were received.
