Difficult to take Nawaz Sharif to US until platelet count stabilises: Son

ISLAMABAD/LONDON: Pakistan's ailing former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will not be taken to the US from London for specialist medical treatment until his platelet count get stabilised, according to a report on Monday.
Sharif, the 69-year-old Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo, had left for London on November 19 in an air ambulance to seek medical treatment in London, a month after the three-time premier was released on bail from a seven-year prison sentence in a corruption case.
The PML-N supremo is suffering from multiple health ailments, including an immune system disorder causing low platelet count.
Earlier this month, his family sources said that Sharif will likely fly to the US on December 16 for medical treatment of his ailment there.
However, his son, Hussain Nawaz, told reporters in London that, it will be difficult to take his father to the US until his platelet count get stabilised, The News International reported on Monday
Hussain said Sharif contracted various diseases during his jail term in Pakistan.
Sharif's personal physician Dr Adnan Khan said that Sharif's diseases were being reviewed from every aspect, adding that they were waiting for the clearance from the hematologist as the reasons behind the platelet count issue could not be known, it reported.
He said that nothing could be said about Sharif's stay in Britain as platelet count should be stable before taking him to the US.
Earlier reports said that Sharif's family has contacted the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) for treatment of Nawaz's blocked carotid artery.
Sharif was shifted from jail to the Services hospital in Lahore in October after his health condition deteriorated. Doctors then recommended him to get treatment abroad.
The Pakistan government allowed Sharif's travel for medical reasons but put the condition that he submit an indemnity bond as a guarantee that he would return to the country after getting treatment. He, however, rejected the condition and challenged it in courts.
Sharif was granted bail by the Islamabad High Court on humanitarian grounds in the Al Azizia case and by the Lahore High Court in the ongoing Chaudhry Sugar Mills case, in which he is a suspect.
In November, he was allowed by the LHC to travel abroad for treatment without any bond.