Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s health deteriorated again as doctors tried to ascertain the cause of a sudden drop in his platelet count, Dawn reported on Tuesday. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief on Saturday suffered a heart attack at the Services Hospital in Lahore, where he was admitted on October 21.

The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday granted Sharif bail for eight weeks in the Al Azizia case on medical grounds, Dawn reported. The bail was granted following a plea by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Shehbaz Sharif.

On Monday, Sharif’s platelet count was reportedly around 28,000, which is 1,22,000 less than the normal minimum level. “Despite doctors’ best efforts, it has not yet been diagnosed why Nawaz Sharif’s platelets drastically drop to dangerous level,” the former prime minister’s personal physician Dr Adnan Khan tweeted.

Doctors are currently trying to establish a balance between the doses to increase his platelet count, and his heart medicines. “The diagnosis is yet to be ascertained,” said Services Hospital Principal Dr Mahmood Ayaz. The medical board, led by Ayaz, said that the platelet count was fluctuating due to the heart medicines.

Doctors reportedly stopped giving him the medicines to treat his cardiac disease, and advised him to continue his hospital stay till the platelet count became normal, according to Geo News. They also ruled out the possibility of shifting or discharging him in his present condition.

“Although the number of platelets decreased but hopefully it will increase as the medical board has stopped administering Heparin medicine to Nawaz,” Ayaz told Express Tribune. “Relatives of Nawaz have expressed satisfaction over his treatment and according to them his treatment will continue at the Services Hospital. However, if his family wants to shift him from here, the medical board will decide.”

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal said they prioritised doctor’s efforts to stablise Sharif’s condition. “Once his condition is stabilised the question of his going abroad will arise,” he told Dawn.

Sharif, who was lodged in Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore in connection with the Al Azizia case before being hospitalised, was arrested on October 11 by Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case. The former prime minister’s family allegedly laundered money under the guise of sale or purchase of shares of the sugar mill.

Now, follow and debate the day’s most significant stories on Scroll Exchange.