Khaleda's medical condition very critical: BNP

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's health condition is very critical, the political party said today. 

"Khaleda Zia is at the crossroads of life and death. She has to be sent abroad for medical treatment," said Selina Rahman, a member of the party's standing committee on Monday (13 June). 

Picture: ScreenGrab

Earlier in the day, BNP staged a human chain in front of the party's central office in Naya Paltan, demanding that the government allows Khaleda to travel abroad for medical treatment. 

One of the BNP leaders fell ill during the protest and was taken to hospital.

When the leaders and activists of the women's party took out a procession from under the central office of the BNP after the human chain, it could not go far after police stopped them. 

Khaleda Zia, who was taken to Evercare Hospital in the early hours of Saturday after she fell ill suddenly, underwent stenting in the heart as she was diagnosed with 95% block in main artery and a mild cardiac arrest.

"The 10-member medical board for the treatment of Khaleda Zia advised taking her to the USA, the UK or Germany for advanced treatment," her personal physician Professor AZM Zahid Hossain told the media.

The 76-year-old former prime minister has been suffering from various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung and eye problems.

Earlier in November last year, she was admitted to the Evercare Hospital in the Bashundhara Residential Area and returned home after an 81-day stay.

Khaleda was sent to the Old Dhaka Central Jail as a lower court sentenced her to five years imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on 8 February 2018. Later, she was found guilty in another corruption case the same year.

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail through an executive order suspending her jail sentence on 25 March 2020, with conditions that she will stay in her Gulshan house and will not leave the country.