The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Wednesday asked the jail authorities to allow former president Asif Ali Zardari to choose private doctors of his choice for his various ailments.
In an application addressed to the deputy superintendent of Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, Zardari’s lawyer said his client has been suffering from ‘multiple medical issues’ which had been diagnosed by a board of doctors constituted by the government. “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 exposes 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,” a part of the application quoted the doctors’ report.
The application said that it is the fundamental right of every under-trial prisoner to seek the best medical treatment that he can afford to. It also said that the doctors of the medical board are not as good as the private experts of various disciplines that Zardari will opt for. “That the applicant’s medical condition and the persecutory nature of the false and politically motivated case merits 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 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 read.
In the application, it was stated that if Zardari was denied medical treatment, then it will ‘lead to irreparable damage to his health and may even imperil his life.’ The application requested jail authorities to let Zardari be treated by private doctors who must also be given the freedom to conduct tests as they deem fit. “Other similarly poised NAB prisoners have been granted access to private medical doctors of their choice which also entitles the applicant to similar treatment under Article 25 of the constitution of Pakistan,” the application read. “In view of the foregoing, the applicant submits the names of his personal private doctors including Dr Asim Hussain, Dr Rasheed Jooma, Dr Salma Madha, Major General Zafar and Dr Toufeeq,” it added.
