Former prime minister Imran Khan was taken from prison to hospital in Islamabad overnight for an eye examination and treatment, and was returned to his cell in the early hours of Wednesday, the hospital that treated him has said.
Khan was brought from Central Jail Adiyala in Rawalpindi to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad during the intervening night of 10 to 11 November for a medical check-up and follow-up eye treatment, the hospital said in a statement on Wednesday. He remained vitally stable before, during and after the procedure, the statement said, and was discharged at 2.30am.
Sources cited by Reuters said Khan, who is imprisoned in Adiala Jail, had an eye check-up at PIMS and was given treatment for blood pressure problems during the night before being shifted back to his prison cell. The account was carried by several outlets on Wednesday morning, including the Free Malaysia Today, The Hindu and Duke FM, all reporting the Reuters wire.
The hospital visit came only hours after Khan's lawyer told the Islamabad High Court that the 74-year-old was at risk of a brain haemorrhage because his blood pressure remained uncontrolled in custody. His lawyers have said for some time that his health has deteriorated in prison and that he has lost significant vision in his right eye.
Khan's party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said the hospitalisation raised deeply troubling questions about his health and about the transparency surrounding his condition. The party has repeatedly pressed the authorities for independent medical access to its founder, and has argued that the lack of clear, timely information about his treatment feeds public anxiety.
Khan has been behind bars since August 2023 and faces scores of charges ranging from corruption to treason, following the anti-establishment riots that erupted after his arrest that year. He served as prime minister from 2018 until he lost power in a no-confidence vote in 2022, and he has remained the most prominent opposition figure in the country throughout his imprisonment.
The overnight trip to PIMS also revived attention on an August ruling by the Supreme Court that Khan be transferred to a civilian medical facility for treatment. His supporters have argued that the ruling has not been properly honoured, pointing to the brief, overnight nature of this hospital visit and the speed with which he was returned to his cell.
For the government and the prison authorities, the episode is a reminder of how closely every development in Khan's health is watched. Any hospital visit by a former prime minister in custody is politically charged, and the authorities have in the past been criticised both for moving too slowly on medical care and for saying too little about it afterwards.
The episode is also part of a wider pattern of health worries around senior PTI figures in custody. Earlier on Wednesday, the site reported that former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had been shifted to a heart hospital in Lahore after a fall in Kot Lakhpat Jail, underlining the strain that prolonged detention is placing on the party's jailed leadership.
What happens next is likely to play out in the courts and in the PTI's public campaign. The party is expected to keep pressing for a full, independent medical assessment of Khan and for regular, transparent updates on his condition, while his legal team continues to pursue his many cases through the courts.
For now, the known facts are limited to the hospital's own statement and the accounts of officials who spoke to Reuters: an overnight visit, an eye check-up and follow-up treatment, blood pressure care, a discharge at 2.30am and a return to Adiala Jail. Beyond that, the questions his party is asking — about the state of his health and the transparency of his care — remain unanswered.
