Imran Khan’s eyesight was ‘down to 15%’, now Pakistan jail claims ‘almost normal’

Khan, who founded the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party and has been in jail since August 2023, has been taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad several times for treatment of his eye condition — right central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) — first reported in late January.

What the jail report said

Officials at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail submitted a report to the Supreme Court on the 73-year-old leader’s current health, PTI reported. According to the report, Khan’s eye had shown clear improvement, and his sight had returned to nearly normal.

The report said doctors treating Khan at PIMS included the hospital’s head of ophthalmology and a retina surgeon from a Rawalpindi eye hospital, and argued this showed the jail administration had made a genuine effort to give him proper medical care.

It added that medical staff checked on Khan three times a day, monitoring his meals, blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen levels, and that his full medical record had been kept since he was jailed. Several outside specialists had also visited him for check-ups, the report said.

The report said both Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, who is held at the same facility, were receiving proper healthcare, adding that their wellbeing mattered a great deal to the jail administration.

It also said the couple had been allowed to meet regularly every Tuesday, with 84 such meetings recorded so far. The jail authorities asked the court to dismiss Khan’s plea, saying it had no merit.

A three-judge bench, led by Justice Shahid Wahid and including Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, was set to take up the case on August 18.

Khan has been in custody since 5 August 2023, when he was arrested at his home in Lahore following a corruption conviction.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said he was seriously worried about a medical report showing high blood pressure readings for Khan, PTI reported. Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad with senior party figures, Afridi said Khan’s own doctors had earlier found his blood pressure to be normal.

Afridi said Khan’s family, lawyers and personal doctors had not been allowed to see him since 2 December 2025, making it hard to know his true condition.

He said party leaders, Khan’s family, his doctors and his legal team would discuss the matter together and decide their next steps.

Afridi said it was troubling that the courts had not acted despite repeated appeals over Khan’s health, asking what hope ordinary citizens could have in the justice system if a former prime minister and the country’s most popular political leader could not get a fair hearing.

He said the PTI was not asking for any special treatment, only for justice under the law, and warned that continued delays would further damage public trust in state institutions.