LAHORE: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been diagnosed as a patient with serious health problems and the specially constituted medical board that examined him has recommended his removal to a hospital.

The six-member board, which included two specialists from the army medical corps, examined MrSharif at the Kot Lakhpat prison on Wednesday after other doctors suggested that he had cardiac problems and needed to be hospitalised. The former prime minister is serving a seven-year jail term.

`We`ve thoroughly examined Mr Sharif and found him suffering from multiple health issues that need immediate and specialised healthcare at a facility where care for multiple and complicated diseases is available,` one of the board members told Dawn on the condition of anonymity. `We examined the patient for two hours andconductedvarioustests before finalising our advice,` he added, declining to give more details. Thereport has been sent to the home department for further action that may be necessary.

The board that examined Mr Sharif comprised cardiac experts from the Armed Forces` Institute of Cardiology, the Punjab Institute of Cardiology, and the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology. Itincluded Dr Hamid Sharif Khan, Dr Talha Bin Nazir, Dr Sajjad Ahmed, Dr Shahid Hameed, Brig Azmat Hayat and Brig Abdul Hameed Siddiqui. It was the third panel to have medically examined the 69-year-old PML-N leader. Punjab Governor Muhammad Sarwar and Information Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan had stated that the former prime minister would be allowed to be hospitalised if the special medical board recommended that. Earlier, a board of the Jinnah Hospital also recommended his being in hospital, declaring that `Mr Sharif is not completely well [...]` Expressing her concern at the report, Mr Sharif`s daughter Maryam Nawaz had stated that her f ather`s illness had progressed and is life-threatening. Several PTI ministers had ridiculed her concerns.