LAHORE: The Twitter account of the Punjab chief minister’s spokesman Dr Shahbaz Gill was suspended temporarily on Monday allegedly for the second time – following a complaint about sharing personal health details of former premier Nawaz Sharif.

Dr Gill asserted that what he shared about Mr Sharif’s health through a tweet was public information and that it was the state’s responsibility to keep the masses updated on the condition of an inmate.

It is reliably learnt the Twitter management has told Dr Gill that a complaint was received regarding his March 22 seven-minute video tweet explaining Mr Sharif’s health and doctors’ advice and asked him to delete the tweet and start using his social networking site.

“I will not delete the tweet and would contest with the Twitter management about my role as a government representative and spokesman,” said Dr Gill while talking to Dawn.

Dr Gill said he was countering propaganda on Mr Sharif’s health and informed the public that Mr Sharif’s renal tests were normal and the doctors had advised him to consume more water and minimise the use of eggs and meat. He said the doctors’ advice was also shared with the media much before he went to Twitter.

Dr Gill had also uploaded two video messages on March 22, saying that politics was being done on the health of Nawaz Sharif, telling that five consecutive tweets were made in an hour (by Mr Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif) and tweeted two letters written on March 21 and 22 with that the second one was yet to be received.

The CM’s spokesman had asserted that the jailed leader’s health was normal. He said Mr Sharif had complained about pain in his teeth, which was immediately addressed by a dental surgeon.

Dr Gill said ‘someone’ in sheer desperation had complained to the Twitter management against this tweet.

“This tweet has nothing to do with the personal details of a person but that of inmate who needs to be attended well by the state,” he said.

It may also be mentioned that Dr Gill’s Twitter account was also suspended on January 19, when it showed a message “the account violated the twitter rules”.

Mr Gill had, however, stated that his Twitter account was hacked and the hackers had also changed the associated email.

LAB REPORT: A controversy erupted on social media over Nawaz Sharif`s medical report issued by the Lahore-based lab.

The report’s image was first shared on Twitter by Maryam Nawaz herself but shortly afterwards, screenshots of the report were circulated on Twitter, showing that the patient’s personal details had been modified. The derogatory remarks added to Nawaz’s address details sparked a backlash on social media where users called for a boycott of the lab.

The diagnostic centre’s official Twitter account issued a statement. “Privacy of our patient’s lab reports is important to us. Patient results can be accessed on our servers by using patient ID information that is printed on their lab reports. That is why photos of lab reports should not be shared on social media,” it said.

The lab management stated someone had accessed the patient’s profile and edited the address.

Regretting that the online profile was changed with inappropriate remarks on the server, the blood lab said the patient’s online lab record had been restored to original condition and shall be shared with the family with a different patient ID number. It also said that a complaint would be lodged with the FIA to identify the individuals, who tampered with the records,” it added.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2019