Khaleda Zia critically ill

Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday said that the health condition of ailing party chairperson Khaleda Zia ‘is critical and physicians are advising her for better treatment’.

‘The health condition of former prime minister Khaleda Zia is very critical,’ he said while addressing a discussion marking Buddha Purnima on Wednesday. 

Fakhrul expressed dissatisfaction and criticised the government for not allowing Khaleda Zia’s treatment abroad.

Khaleda has been undergoing treatment at the coronary care unit of Evercare Hospital in Dhaka since May 16.

On May 5, the BNP chairperson’s younger brother ShamimEskander submitted an application to home minister Asaduzzaman Khan seeking permission to send her abroad for better treatment.

On May 9, after getting the law ministry’s opinion, the home minister told reporters that the government had rejected the application as Khaleda was a convict and that there was no instance of allowing a convict to go abroad for treatment.

The 74-year-old former PM was released from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University’s prison cell on March 25, 2020, on an executive order on conditions that she would take medical treatment at home and would not leave the country.

She had been staying at her Gulshan residence in Dhaka before being admitted to the hospital on April 28. 

Khaleda tested positive for Covid-19 on April 11 and negative on May 5.

Says Fakhrul