Zardari seeks access to doctors of his choice

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Wednesday submitted an application to the superintendent Adiala Jail to allow former president Asif Ali Zardari to get examined by his personal private doctors and medical experts of his own choice for treatment of his various ailments at his own expenses.

In an application addressed to the superintendent and deputy superintendent Adiala Jail, the PPP said if the applicant is not given access to the doctors of his choice, the same way lead to serious risk to his life which can lead to irreparable damage to his health and may even imperil his life.

Zardari’s lawyer said that his client has been suffering from multiple medical issues, which have been diagnosed by a board of doctors constituted by the government.

The application further said, “He is suffering from various ailments and was allowed two attendants to monitor his sugar and blood pressure round-the-clock. Due to multiple morbidities, even a board of doctors has been checking him every week. The cardio vascular disease and fluctuating sugar and blood pressure expose such patients to greater risk, contracting life threatening conditions in a stream hot and humid weather. It is also clarified that facilities be provided to the accused which are necessary for his health according to instructions of doctors.”

The application further said, “The applicant’s medical condition and the persecutory nature of the false and politically motivated case merit that the applicant may be allowed to be examined by the doctors of his own choice and medical experts at his own expense as is mandated by the Constitution and the law. The doctors comprising of medical board obviously cannot be compared to private experts of various disciplines whose specialties and expertise outshines and is acknowledged within and outside Pakistan.”

The application said that it is the fundamental right of every under-trial prisoner to seek the best medical treatment that he could afford. It also said that doctors of the medical board were not as good as the private experts of various disciplines that Zardari would opt for.

The application requested jail authorities to let Zardari be treated by private doctors who would be given the freedom to conduct tests as they deemed fit.—NAVEED BUTT