ISLAMABAD
\nFollowing 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 \u201ccontinued failure\u201d to carry out the procedure and demanded that it be immediately conducted at Shifa International Hospital.
\nWhen 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 subsequen\u00adtly shifted back to Adiala jail, reportedly without under\u00adgoing the CTA, which can help identify coronary blo\u00adckages and assess the risk of a heart attack.
\nSources told the Cardiac Centre\u2019s 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.
\nDoctors pointed out that a 128-slice CT scanner had been operational in Pims\u2019 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.
\nTaking 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.
\nOn Sunday, PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram, in a written message to Dawn, reiterated the PTI\u2019s demand to move Imran to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad without any delay \u2014 which the Supreme Court had also directed on August 18.
\nAkram 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.
\n\u201cEven the government\u2019s own doctors considered this diagnostic test necessary,\u201d Akram stated. \u201cYet, 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,\u201d he alleged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 \u201ccontinued failure\u201d to carry out the procedure and demanded that it be immediately conducted at Shifa International Hospital. When the PTI founder was brought […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-563570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n