ISLAMABAD: Following reports that jailed PTI founder Imran Khan could not undergo a recommended computed tomography angiography (CTA) during a hospital visit this week, his party condemned the authorities over their “continued failure” to carry out the procedure and demanded that it be immediately conducted at Shifa International Hospital.

When the PTI founder was brought to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) in the early hours of Friday for an eye procedure and other diagnostic examinations, doctors recommended a CTA of the heart, but hospital staff reportedly said the facility was unavailable. After other tests, he was subsequen­tly shifted back to Adiala jail, reportedly without under­going the CTA, which can help identify coronary blo­ckages and assess the risk of a heart attack.

Sources told Dawn the Cardiac Centre’s conventional angiography facility at Pims was different from CTA. While conventional angiography involves inserting a catheter into a blood vessel, CTA is performed using a CT scanner and does not require puncturing a vein.

Doctors pointed out that a 128-slice CT scanner had been operational in Pims’ radiology department since March 2022 and was capable of performing CTA. The test is generally conducted by radiologists on the recommendation of clinicians. A senior doctor said the patient should therefore have been referred to radiology department.

Taking notice of the reports, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday formed an inquiry committee, headed by the establishment division secretary, to establish facts and fix responsibility.

On Sunday, PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram, in a written message to Dawn, reiterated the PTI’s demand to move Imran to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad without any delay — which the Supreme Court had also directed on August 18.

Akram also cited details submitted to the court, saying a medical board of the government had examined Imran on August 10 while a Pims cardiologist had already recommended CT Coronary Angiography for him on August 1 due to fluctuating blood pressure, palpitations, headaches, restlessness and the potential risk of cardiac complications arising from his age and prolonged isolation.

“Even the government’s own doctors considered this diagnostic test necessary,” Akram stated. “Yet, when Imran Khan was taken to Pims, the procedure was not performed. Hospital officials claimed that the required facility was unavailable, despite the presence of a functional CT scanner in the radiology department capable of conducting the test,” he alleged.

He said these reports had “intensified concerns regarding repeated delays and apparent negligence in providing Imran Khan with timely and appropriate medical care”.

“A former prime minister was taken to a government hospital in the middle of the night, assessed by doctors who recommended an essential cardiac investigation, and then returned to the Adiala jail without the test being conducted. This cannot be dismissed as an isolated administrative lapse; it reflects a deeply troubling pattern,” he added.

Akram said, on the other hand, the required facilities were available at Shifa International Hospital. “But, despite the Supreme Court’s order concerning Imran Khan’s comprehensive medical examination and treatment at Shifa International, the authorities chose not to take him there and instead transferred him to a facility where the CT Coronary Angiography was ultimately not conducted,” he rued.

“When the necessary facilities were available at Shifa International, deliberately taking Imran Khan to a hospital where the required facilities for the procedure were not available raises a grave and unavoidable question: was the decision made in advance to prevent the CTA from being conducted?” he asked. “The authorities must explain why he was not taken to the facility specifically identified for his medical care and why he was sent to a hospital where the recommended test could not be performed.”

Akram rejected the government’s assertions that Imran had been receiving adequate medical care.

Regarding the prime minister’s decision to constitute an inquiry committee following reports of the failure to conduct Imran’s CTA, he said the move raised “serious questions as to why the medically recommended test was not conducted in the first instance. Why coordination between the cardiology and radiology departments had failed, and why Imran Khan was not taken to Shifa International despite the availability of the required facilities there”.

He demanded that Imran’s CTA be immediately conducted at Shifa International Hospital under the supervision of independent specialists and the former premier’s personal physicians.

Akram also called for the “prompt disclosure of his (Imran’s) complete medical records, reports and diagnostic results to his family, personal doctors and legal team”.

Moreover, the Supreme Court’s August 18 decision should be fully implemented in letter and spirit and a transparent and independent investigation should be conducted to determine why Imran was taken to Pims instead of Shifa International and why his CTA was not conducted, Akram demanded.

“Imran Khan’s heart health cannot be subjected to political calculations, administrative excuses or further delay,” Akram declared.

“Political victimisation must never be permitted to endanger a human life through the denial or postponement of essential medical care. The decision to take him to a facility where the required test was not conducted, despite the availability of the necessary facilities at Shifa International, has created serious concerns that the procedure was intentionally prevented,” he alleged. “The government and all relevant authorities will bear full responsibility for any further deterioration in his condition,” Akram warned.

Imran’s hospital transfer saga
The PTI has been raising concerns over Imran’s health since his eye ailment — right central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) — came to light in late January. He has been taken to Pims multiple times for treatment since.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered the government to shift Imran to Shifa International Hospital within two days for examination and treatment by a multidisciplinary medical board.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Shahid Waheed and comprising Justices Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Ishtiaq Ibr­ahim issued the interim directions on petitions seeking Imran’s hospitalisation, access to personal physicians and family members and provision of his medical record to his family.

The court also ordered that Dr Uzma Khan and Dr Faisal Sultan — Imran Khan’s personal physician — be present during the medical check-up by a medical board.

At the same time, Imran’s family members, PTI members and lawyers associated with him were barred from disclosing his health condition or medical reports to the media or public until the next hearing.

The next day, the government filed a review plea against the court’s order to shift Imran to the private hospital, arguing that the directive was discriminatory and issued in violation of prison rules and principles of natural justice.

However, the SC had returned the plea on Thursday with the objection that the contents of the affidavit and facts, along with the review petition filed under Article 188 of the Constitution, had not been properly drawn up and that one of the paper books was not in order.

The same night, elaborate arrangements were put in place in and around Shifa International Hospital, and all signs pointed to the PTI founder being brought there, in compliance with the Supreme Court order.

However, it became clear on Friday morning that Imran had been taken to Pims for a check-up and then subsequently transported back to prison.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar blamed “the security situation created by PTI workers on the way to and outside Al Shifa Hospital” for the diversion.

In a post on X, he said, “In the light of the SC’s order, the prisoner was taken to the hospital under appropriate security arrangements during the night between August 20 and 21.

“A team of qualified doctors, including an ophthalmologist, a cardiologist, and a physician, conducted a detailed examination of him and declared him medically fit,” he said.

The PTI rejected the allegation and flayed the government for “flouting” the SC order.

Later, the Pims administration said that two specialists from Shifa Inter­national Hospital participated in Imran’s eye assessment, while other exa­minations were carri­­ed out by the concerned Pims specialists.

“The clinical input ari­sing from the ophthalmological assessment was taken into account alongside findings of the investigations conducted at Pims,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, the government on Thursday filed a fresh review petition against the SC’s Aug 18 order. The Islamabad chief commissioner again filed the plea, saying that his office had a direct, substantial and legally protected interest in the matter and that the Aug 18 order adversely affected its constitutional authority.