Islamabad: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is in a "stable" condition after undergoing tests for a heart condition in Dubai and he is expected to return to Pakistan once the results of his check-up are available in two to three days, a close aide to the Pakistani leader said on Wednesday.
"His condition is stable. He has been kept in the ICU because a lot of visitors were coming to meet him. I advised him, in order to reduce visitors, that he should stay in the ICU so that he can rest," said Petroleum Minister Asim Hussain, a medical doctor who has served as Zardari s personal physician.
Hussain said he expected Zardari to return to Pakistan by the weekend, in time to address a proposed joint session of both houses of Parliament.
"I am pretty confident that he will come to Pakistan," he told a TV news channel.
Hussain is part of the delegation that accompanied Zardari to Dubai.
"His activities have been very hectic over the past few days and I think he is stable now. He will be (in the hospital) for two to three more days. Once the results of the tests come in, he will be discharged and he will be back home," he said.
Zardari would address parliament as scheduled, Hussain said.
"Addressing Parliament is his constitutional right and he should do it whenever he is better and fit enough. I think he will definitely address the joint session," he said.
Hussain's remarks came hours after the Prime Minister s House and the presidency issued separate statements that described Zardari's condition as stable.
The government issued the statements against the backdrop of rampant speculation that Zardari s sudden visit to Dubai for medical tests was an indication that he was on the verge of resigning.
But Hussain sought to give the impression that there was no mystery behind Zardari s visit to Dubai.
He noted that Zardari's health problems, including the heart condition and a problem in the waist, dated back to his imprisonment in the 1990s.
The President's medical tests were due to be done in Pakistan but his son, Pakistan People s Party leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and his family "wanted the check-up to be done in Dubai as it would be better", Hussain said.
"His old surgeon, Dr Imtiaz Hashmi, is now in Dubai and he too checked him," he added.
Hussain said no announcements were made by the government when Zardari had gone abroad for medical tests in the past or when an angiogram was conducted in Britain.
Pakistan is a "speculative country" and this was the reason for the rumours about Zaradri s condition, he contended.
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