BNP Chairperson and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia won’t be taken abroad for better treatment right now and the final decision would be taken when her physical condition improves, according to her medical board sources.
“The BNP chairperson will take treatment as she receives now for the time being,” Khaleda’s personal physician Prof Dr AZM Zahid Hossain told UNB.
Replying to a question if there is any plan to take her abroad, he said that no decision has been taken yet.
The expert physicians had earlier advised Khaleda Zia, 79, to be taken to any of the three countries -- USA, England and Germany-- for her better treatment. Among the three countries, the United States is being given the highest priority by the BNP and Khaleda Zia's family.
Because, on October 26 last year, three US specialist doctors completed the hepatic procedure known as the transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS procedure) to stop water accretion in Khaleda Zia's stomach and chest, and bleeding in her liver.
However, Khaleda Zia’s medical board and BNP sources said which country would be chosen for Khaleda Zia mainly depends on her physical condition as she is not in the physical condition to travel for 10-15 hours straight at this moment. So, she might be taken to Thailand initially considering the airway distance. Then she might be taken to the USA subjected to the improvement of her physical condition.
BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Dr Zubaida Rahman from London are also regularly enquiring of her wellbeing and maintain communication with her medical board doctors.
BNP media cell member Atiqur Rahman Rumon also said no final decision has been made yet regarding which country she (Khaleda Zia) will be taken to.
Khaleda Zia was sent to Old Dhaka Central Jail on February 8, 2018, after a special court sentenced her to five years in prison in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. On October 30, 2018, the High Court raised her punishment to 10 years. Later, she was convicted in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail after 776 days through an executive order suspending her sentence on March 25, 2020, with conditions that she would stay in her Gulshan house and not leave the country.
Khaleda, aged 79, has long battled various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, and issues related to the kidney, lung, heart, and eyes.
Since her conditional release from jail in 2020, the BNP chief has been receiving treatment frequently at the hospital under a medical board headed by cardiologist Prof Shahabuddin Talukder.
Khaleda's doctors have been recommending sending her abroad since she was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis in November 2021.
Following the fall of nearly 16-year Awami League’s regime, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia on Tuesday again getting a police escort once again after nearly a decade.