By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan was taken under heavy security to a government hospital in the early hours of Tuesday for a second anti-VEGF intravitreal injection to treat central retinal vein occlusion in his right eye, triggering fresh accusations from his party of government secrecy and lack of transparency.
Khan, 73, was moved from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad on Feb. 24, where doctors performed the procedure as day-care surgery, a PIMS doctor said. “Prior to the procedure, he was examined by a board of specialists: a consultant cardiologist who also performed echocardiography and ECG (result: normal) and a consultant physician,” the doctor said.
“After obtaining informed consent, and under standard monitoring, precautionary measures and protocols in the operation theatre, he was injected with a second dose of intravitreal injection of anti-VEGF under the guidance of microscopy by consultant ophthalmologist, and a consultant vitreo-retinal surgeon of PIMS and Al-Shifa Eye Hospital.” The doctor added that Khan remained “vitally stable before, during, and after the procedure” and was discharged with instructions for care, follow-up advice and medical documents.
Khan was returned to Adiala Jail the same day after spending roughly an hour at the hospital. A third injection is scheduled for March 24, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said in a post on X.
Chaudhry said there had been “an improvement in the eyesight after the first procedure, keeping in view which expert physicians recommended a second procedure”. “Today’s process was completed successfully and after clearance from the medical team, he was shifted back to Adiala,” he wrote, adding that the government had acted “under strict security arrangements while fulfilling all legal and humanitarian requirements”.
The minister stressed that providing medical facilities to prisoners was the state’s responsibility and that “all arrangements were transparent and according to the regulations”.
Khan’s eye condition – right central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) – first came to light in late January after his initial treatment at PIMS on Jan. 24, which the government confirmed five days later. He has complained of losing 85 percent of vision in the affected eye.
The latest visit sparked immediate criticism from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which has accused the government of conducting the procedure “clandestinely” and without informing his family or allowing his personal doctors to be present. “The situation demands transparency, not secrecy,” PTI’s official X account said. “What are they hiding?” The party demanded that Khan be shifted to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad for “independent and transparent medical care”.
PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan wrote on X that he was informed only at 2 a.m. via a message that “Khan sahib was brought to PIMS for administering an injection”. “I was not informed in advance,” he said, repeating the demand for a full check-up at Shifa International “in the presence of his personal doctors and family members”.
Khan’s sister, Aleema Khanum, also posted on X, saying the family had learned of the procedure only from news reports. “When the law requires that family be informed before any medical procedure is conducted on a prisoner, why was the family not informed?” she asked. Aleema said the family “does not trust the diagnosis or test reports from government medical facilities” and rejected any reports issued by PIMS.
She claimed there were reports that doctors at the hospital had been threatened with “serious consequences if any information is leaked about Imran Khan”. “Our family rejects their reports, even if they issue these doctored reports to the public,” she said. “We stand by our demand that Imran Khan be examined and treated in Shifa International (Islamabad) by specialists, under the supervision of Imran Khan’s personal doctors and in the presence of his family.”
Aleema added that PIMS was “not equipped to treat anyone for the alleged condition that has developed in Imran Khan’s eye” and warned that the government would be held accountable.
Former PTI lawmaker Omar Ayub Khan called the absence of Khan’s personal physicians “totally unacceptable” and appealed directly to Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi to order treatment at Shifa International “in the presence of his physicians and in the hospital of his choice”.
The government has denied the opposition’s allegations of mistreatment or lack of transparency. It said it had invited Gohar Ali Khan to be present during a medical examination of Khan at Adiala Jail on Feb. 15, but the PTI chairman declined, citing party consultations.
Khan has been in custody since August 2023 after convictions his party says are politically motivated. He denies wrongdoing. Since his ouster in a 2022 no-confidence vote he has faced multiple cases, some of which have been suspended or overturned on appeal. Khan’s health has become the latest flashpoint between the government and the PTI-led opposition alliance.
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