ISLAMABAD: Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar informed the Senate on Tuesday that PTI founder and former prime minister Imran Khan was taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) at his own request for treatment related to an eye condition.
Addressing the House, Tarar said PIMS—Islamabad’s premier public-sector tertiary care hospital—examined Imran through a medical board and administered an anti-VEGF intravitreal injection to treat right central retinal vein occlusion after obtaining his consent. He added that the treatment showed positive progress and that Imran’s health was “completely fine.”
The law minister said Imran had requested that the procedure be carried out in the evening due to potential law and order concerns. “The PTI founder faced one specific medical issue and personally asked for the injection to be administered at PIMS,” Tarar told lawmakers.
His remarks came amid criticism by the PTI, which rejected the PIMS report and demanded that Imran be treated at Shaukat Khanum Hospital and allowed meetings with his family.
Tarar said details of the diagnosis and treatment had already been shared publicly by the PIMS executive director through a press briefing. He assured the Senate that if any further medical needs arose, all facilities would be provided in accordance with the law, stressing that the federal government fully respected human rights and had never denied medical treatment to any prisoner.
However, he noted that any additional relief related to medical care, meetings, or prison conditions must be sought through the Islamabad High Court, which he said was the competent appellate forum in the matter.
The minister also reminded the House that Imran was a convicted prisoner in corruption cases and was being provided medical and legal facilities as per prison rules. Responding to opposition concerns, Tarar said constitutional rights were guaranteed to every individual, but their enforcement was subject to legal procedures.
He added that Imran was convicted after a year-long open trial in a National Accountability Bureau case and was also found guilty in another reference involving the undervaluation of a jewellery set, causing losses to the national exchequer.
