The expertise of British-Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Ahmed Khan, who was once romantically linked to late Princess Diana, is being sought for former President Pervez Musharraf, according to a media report.
The seven-member medical board treating Musharraf at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) in Rawalpindi has asked Khan to give his opinion on the former military ruler?s heart problems, The Express Tribune quoted a source in the hospital as saying. Musharraf was admitted to the AFIC on January 2 after he suffered heart problems while being taken to a special court set up to try him on charges of high treason for imposing emergency in 2007.
The source said Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology chief executive officer Gen (retired) Azhar Mahmood Kiyani, also a member of the medical board, is consulting Khan on whether 70-year-old Musharraf should be sent abroad for treatment.
Khan, considered among the best cardiac surgeons in the world, played a key role in moving teenage rights activist Malala Yousufzai from AFIC to Britain after she was shot in the head by a Taliban assassin in October 2012.
He is believed to have good ties with hospitals in Britain and also serves as the head of the surgery department at the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology.
Musharraf’s lawyer Ahmed Raza Kasuri confirmed that consultations were underway with several national and international doctors.
The former military ruler is currently barred from travelling abroad as his name has been included in the Interior Ministry’s Exit Control List. However, there is widespread speculation that Musharraf might be allowed to go abroad for treatment under some sort of deal.
—PTI