Special ‘treatment’: Musharraf’s illness ‘serious’, says AFIC report

Former military ruler indicates he wishes to go abroad for surgery; prosecution contests findings of the report.

ISLAMABAD:

The prosecution was up in arms on Friday over the findings of General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s medical report which called his illness “serious and unpredictable” and indicated that he was “unwilling to get the treatment done” in the country.

Public prosecutor Akram Sheikh expressed serious reservations over the findings, suggesting that the three-judge special court hearing the treason trial constitute an independent medical board to file a separate report.

“It can be quickly life-threatening in the event of destabilisation, particularly under stress or during a coronary intervention. Such a destabilisation can lead to a massive heart attack and be immediately fatal,” reads the report prepared by the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC).



Doctors say that a coronary angiogram is required urgently to ascertain the need for more medical procedures.

However, the report adds that Musharraf wants to go abroad as “he has reserved his right” to avail a “medical facility of his choice.”

Copies of the report were earlier distributed among the prosecution and defence lawyers and a 20-minute break was also given to discuss the findings.

When the court resumed the hearing, public prosecutor Akram Sheikh requested the court not to announce its decision on the report, citing his reservations. Instead, an independent medical board comprising the country’s top five cardiologists should be asked to file a separate report.

The head judge, Justice Faisal Arab, later asked Akram Sheikh to submit his objections on the AFIC’s medical report till Monday. The court will issue its decision after reviewing the report, he added.

The court adjourned the hearing till January 29.



If Musharraf is allowed to leave the country to be treated at a hospital of his choice, Sheikh said, all prisoners suffering from similar diseases must be given the equal right to leave the country as well. “The doors of jails should be opened for all such prisoners under Article 25 of the Constitution – under which all citizens must be treated equally,” he added.

The defence team kicked up a storm over his remarks. Its members blamed the prosecution for “maligning the sacred institution”, ie, the army. Akhtar Shah – a retired major who comes to the hearings even he is a counsel in Musharraf’s legal team – threatened the prosecutor with consequences if he continued to speak against the armed forces.

Musharraf’s concerns in report

Musharraf, as cited by the medial report, expressed reservations over the capability of local doctors. “There is a paucity of advanced cardiac support systems available in the country, like left ventricular assist devices required to save the patient’s life in the event of sudden severe heart failure complicating such cardiac interventions,” the report said, citing the ex-president’s concern.

The seriousness and unpredictability of the disease warrants close and constant medical supervision of the former army chief until a decision to undertake further procedure is taken, it says, proposing an immediate court decision in this regard.

The report was finalised by a three-member medical board of Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology, comprising Major General Syed Muhammad Imran Majeed, Brigadier Safdar Abbas and Brigadier Muhammad Qaiser Khan.

‘Musharraf should not be allowed to leave’

It is surprising that Musharraf has reservations over the angiography and medical procedures at the hospital of his choice, said Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid. Talking to journalists in Islamabad on Friday, he said that AFIC has carried out thousands of angiographies and they haven’t received a complaint so far.

No one facing trial can be at liberty to leave the country for medical reasons, the minister reiterated. If one person is allowed to make choices like this, then this would set a dangerous precedent. “No prisoner or accused would choose to stay in their country.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2014.