PTI demands access to Imran Khan after brief hospital stay for eye care

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has formally requested access to its leader, Imran Khan, after the former prime minister was transported to a hospital overnight for medical treatment and subsequently returned to his prison cell. Khan, who is 74 years old, made a brief departure from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi to visit the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad for an eye examination. The government hospital confirmed the visit in a statement released on Wednesday.

According to PIMS, the medical check was conducted on the advice of Khan's ophthalmologist. The former premier has been undergoing a series of intravitreal injections in his right eye to manage central retinal vein occlusion, a condition identified after he reported a decline in vision. His first injection was administered in January, and the hospital noted that he received another dose during the overnight stay.

The hospital statement emphasized that Khan's vital parameters were normal and that he remained clinically stable. His general physical examination was also reported as normal. He was discharged at approximately 2:30 am local time, which corresponds to 21:30 GMT on Tuesday, with instructions for further care and follow-up appointments.

Khan, a former cricket star who served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, has been incarcerated since August 2023. He faces multiple corruption charges that he denies, describing them as politically motivated, a characterization the current government rejects. The PTI stated on Wednesday that the overnight hospital visit and his immediate return to his cell raised deeply troubling questions regarding his health, the quality of medical care provided, and the transparency of his condition.

The party argued that a human being's health should not be used as a political bargaining chip, nor should the medical treatment of a former prime minister be reduced to a procedural formality. PTI asserted that the state bears full responsibility for Khan's safety and wellbeing. They demanded that his family, personal doctors, and legal team be granted immediate and unrestricted access to him.

Sheikh Waqas Akram, the PTI information secretary, told Al Jazeera that Khan's family and personal doctors were not informed about the hospital visit. The party learned of the procedure only through news reports. Akram noted that no one from the family or the party was present at the hospital, and their personal physician was also absent during the treatment.

During a hearing on Tuesday, Khan's lawyer, Salman Safdar, addressed the Islamabad High Court. Safdar stated that while Khan had reported an improvement in his eyesight, his blood pressure remained a point of concern. The lawyer appeared on behalf of Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, to appeal against their convictions in a property case.

In response to the party's demands, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry told reporters that Khan was receiving the required medical care and that his treatment was not being neglected. However, the party remains critical of the process, noting that in August, the Supreme Court had ordered that Khan be moved to a private hospital of his choice in Islamabad. Instead, he was taken to the government-run PIMS and sent back to jail.