PAKISTAN’S Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the shifting of incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan to a private hospital for medical examination a day after jail authorities said the 73-year-old’s eyesight was “almost normal”. The court issued the directive while hearing several identical petitions following an eye ailment that surfaced earlier this year. The petitioners had asked the court for hospitalisation of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder, arguing that they were not satisfied with the treatment at government hospitals.

 

A three-member bench headed by Justice Shahid Waheed ordered that Khan be taken to Shifa I n t e r n a t i o n a l Hospital in Islamabad in the next few days. “Mindful of the fundamental rights, we are issuing this order to ensure the health and safety of the prisoner,” Justice Waheed said. Adiala Jail authorities said that Khan was treated properly since his medical condition surfaced. He was treated at PIMS by the hospital’s head of ophthalmology. “Consequently, significant improvement of his eye has been noticed, and his vision returned to almost normal,” the report claimed.