Lahore: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has refuted recent media reports claiming that she has throat cancer, clarifying instead that her health issues are related to the parathyroid gland, for which treatment is only available in Switzerland and the US.
“For the last few days, it was being speculated on social media that I was suffering from throat cancer. By the grace of God, I have no cancer,” Maryam told her party men in London on Wednesday.
Her party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), shared the video clip of her talk with the PML-N workers with the media on Thursday.
“I have a thyroid issue, last year I had surgery. I have a rare disease — parathyroid — which could only be treated in two countries, Switzerland and America. There is no treatment for it in England. I don’t want to play a victim card to talk about my illness. People ask why can’t I be treated at a hospital in Pakistan. I want to tell them that all my treatment has been carried out in Pakistan but for parathyroid I have to come to Switzerland,” 51-year-old Maryam said.
However, prominent Pakistani doctor Dr Waqas Nawaz, who is currently based in the US, said Maryam’s claims of parathyroid treatment not available in Pakistan is “misleading and inaccurate”.
“It is misleading and inaccurate to claim by @MaryamNSharif that parathyroid diseases are only treated in the USA and Switzerland. Parathyroid conditions such as hyperparathyroidism and hypoparathyroidism have treatment options available in many countries around the world, including in Pakistan, the UK, France, Germany, Australia, India, the UAE, Qatar and many others,” he posted on X.
Dr Nawaz said many tertiary and private hospitals in Pakistan, including Aga Khan University Hospital, Shifa International, Doctors Hospital, and Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, perform parathyroidectomy.
