Peshawar commissioner’s health: Anis suffers heart attack, but recovering

Anis was injured in an explosion at an Islamabad apartment on October 26.

ISLAMABAD:

Injured Peshawar Commissioner Sahibzada Muhammad Anis suffered a heart attack on Monday evening but was quickly revived by doctors, according to relatives of the commissioner.

Anis, who was injured in an explosion at an Islamabad apartment on Saturday, had been shifted to a private hospital from the Burns Centre at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) on Sunday afternoon.

He is being treated at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit and on Monday, prior to the heart attack, doctors had told the commissioner’s family that he was better than before, but the next 24 hours were crucial for his recovery.

Doctors at the hospital would not comment on if the heart attack would affect his recovery from the burns.

Sources close to Anis confirmed he received threats from militants in Peshawar. In 2009, his uncle, Brig Moinuddin Ahmed, was killed by militants in Islamabad.

Anis, a grade-20 Provincial Civil Service officer, was posted as Peshawar commissioner in April. He was serving as the Kohat Division commissioner prior to that.

In August, Anis had overturned the 33-year jail sentence of Dr Shakil Afridi, a Pakistani physician who allegedly helped the US track down Osama bin Laden.

Sources claimed the explosion which injured Anis and a woman, who received around 45 per cent burns, might have been a targeted attack on the commissioner’s life.

But the police are treating the incident as an “accidental explosion caused by a gas leak.” Law-enforcement officials claimed there was no evidence to suggest explosive use at the site, which the authorities failed to seal-off. The police have also publicly ruled out an assassination attempt.

The woman injured in the explosion is in critical condition and was put on a ventilator on Monday evening, according to doctors at PIMS.

A relative of the commissioner said the family shifted Anis to the private hospital because of inadequate medical care at PIMS.

The relative alleged the PIMS admin publicised inaccurate details about the patient’s injuries, including a statement claiming Anis had received 95 to 100 per cent burns.

He said the burns are actually 50 to 60 per cent.

The relative said Anis had burns on his back, abdomen, arms and legs, but his face was unhurt and his internal organs were functional.

Anis has worse burns on the back — 60 per cent and third-degree — but the burns on the rest of the body are around 45 to 50 per cent and of second-degree, the relative said, quoting doctors at the private hospital.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2013.