Doctor who survived 17-minute cardiac arrest now treating Imran Khan

A Pakistani cardiologist who survived a dramatic cardiac arrest at Dublin Airport after being clinically down for 17 minutes is now involved in the medical care of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan.

Dr Mohammad Farqad Alamgir, a senior interventional cardiologist with an extensive medical career in the United Kingdom, is now predominantly based in Lahore, where he has been living and working for several years.

Dr Alamgir holds senior responsibilities in Punjab’s public healthcare system and also practises in the private sector.

He is chairman of the Boards of Governors of the Punjab Institute of Cardiology and Jinnah Institute of Cardiology, while also continuing his clinical work as a consultant cardiologist.

Medical examination of Imran Khan

Dr Alamgir was among the medical specialists who examined Imran Khan at Adiala Jail on 10 August 2026.

The medical board assessed Khan’s anxiety level at “three-plus” and recommended a daily one-hour walk, along with access to family members, newspapers, television and books.

Reports have also attributed to sources the claim that Dr Alamgir was involved in changing Khan’s blood-pressure medication. That detail remains an attributed claim.

The doctor who became a cardiac patient

Dr Alamgir has a remarkable personal connection to the treatment of heart patients.

In February 2020, while travelling through Dublin Airport, the cardiologist himself suffered a serious cardiac event and went into cardiac arrest.

He was initially treated by an Aer Lingus staff member, who began CPR, before airport police and fire-service personnel joined the resuscitation effort.

Dublin Airport’s emergency responders used a Lucas CPR system and delivered four shocks. Advanced paramedics then administered life-saving medication through an intraosseous needle.

After 17 minutes of downtime, Dr Alamgir was brought back.

“I was down for 17 minutes,” he later told RTÉ, explaining that as a cardiologist he understood how serious an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest could be.

He was transferred to Dublin’s Mater Hospital, where he underwent emergency heart bypass surgery.

Dr Alamgir later returned to Dublin Airport to meet the emergency personnel who had saved his life.

Speaking to RTÉ, he said he remembered getting off the aircraft but his next memory was waking up in the coronary care unit. He said there was “no chance” he would have survived without the rapid response and facilities available at Dublin Airport.

A career spanning Pakistan and the UK

Dr Alamgir trained in Pakistan before building an extensive medical career in the United Kingdom. He obtained his MRCP and Diploma in Cardiology from the University of London and undertook advanced cardiology training in London.

He subsequently became a consultant interventional cardiologist in the UK and developed expertise in interventional and structural heart disease.

After spending many years working in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Dr Alamgir is now primarily based in Lahore, where he combines senior public-sector responsibilities with private clinical practice.

The cardiologist who once survived a 17-minute cardiac arrest is now among the medical specialists involved in the care and assessment of Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister.