Begum Kulsoom Nawaz's surgery completed successfully: doctors

LONDON: Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, the wife of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, surgery to remove diseased lymph nodes proved to be a success, doctors confirmed on Saturday. 

Doctors also informed that Kulsoom Nawaz has been taken to the recovery room, where Nawaz Sharif and their sons, Hassan and Hussain Nawaz, are present with her. 

Kulsoom Nawaz has been admitted to the hospital for the second time in 11 days for a second surgery related to her throat cancer treatment.

Doctors have decided to conduct a second surgery in order to take out diseased lymph nodes from her chest. The first surgery was on the side of her neck while today's surgical procedure will deal with diseased lymph nodes in her chest. 

Kulsoom Nawaz was taken to the hospital Saturday morning, accompanied by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and their sons.

Sources said  Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif will be visiting Kulsoom Nawaz in the afternoon.

“Nawaz Sharif is with Begum Kulsoom Nawaz in the hospital and will remain with her throughout the procedure. Hasan and Hussain were with their parents when they arrived at the hospital early this morning,” a trusted source at the central London hospital told this scribe.

The source shared that the first surgery provided good results and “that's why a second but more major and serious surgery is now underway”.

The source revealed that the doctors operating on Begum Kulsoom Nawaz are specialists in heart and chest surgery. The family had been pondering to take Kulsoom Nawaz to the US for treatment but decided to continue with the team of British doctors as it is progressing well.

Separately, a Sharif family source said that Nawaz Sharif’s return date to Pakistan will be decided within a few days. He said that “it might take another few days, from five days to a week, before Nawaz Sharif leaves London for Pakistan”. The source added that “all depends on how Begum Kulsoom Nawaz’s treatment and results of the second surgery go and then it will depend on what advice doctors give, there is no rush, its Begum Kulsoom Nawaz’s health that takes priority over everything else at this stage”.

Kulsoom Nawaz underwent surgery for throat cancer on September 1 at the same hospital where she is being treated today. She stayed in the hospital overnight and returned to Hasan Nawaz’s flat on Eid day, last Friday. She was regularly visited by doctors at home and her progress and response was reviewed, following the neck surgery procedure.

Geo News had revealed Kulsoom Nawaz was diagnosed with throat cancer, which was declared “curable” by her doctors.

In the absence of Kulsoom Nawaz, PML-N’s Lahore chapter and Maryam Nawaz are running her election campaign in NA-120.