BNP rejects CMH option, Tofail says Khaleda not ill
Jailed BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia is not willing to take treatment at Combined Military Hospital (CMH), party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said on Sunday rejecting the government's offer for her treatment there.
The BNP has stuck to its demand for bringing Khaleda Zia to United Hospital, after it rejected another proposal for treating her at Bangabanahu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) hjspital.
However, senior leader of the ruling Awami League and commerce minister Tofailed Ahmed alleged that the BNP chief is not at all ill.
He also claimed that the party is hatching a conspiracy to send Khalea abroad in the name of treatment, UNB reported from Bhola.
Khaleda Zia's lawyers after visiting her during the Ramadan recently said she might have suffered a mild stroke. Immediately afterwards, the government's ministers said sugar level of Khaleda Zia had fallen since she was fasting.
At a press conference at the BNP's Naya Paltan central office, Mirza Fakhrul said the former prime minister's health has deteriorated "so much that she can't walk on her own".
"The government is misleading the people by saying that she would be treated at the PG (BSMMU) hospital or the CMH. It is not sincere on the question of the party is hatching a conspiracy to send her abroad in the name of providding proper medicare facilities to Khaleda Zia," Fakhrul added.
He said, "We are concerned about the hospital because the illness she is suffering from, requires good treatment. Diagnosis of the disease alone will not be sufficient. Her illness requires regular monitoring before treatment."
Quoting her relatives who visited Khaleda on the Eid day, Fakhrul said, "She can't walk on her own. The eye which underwent surgery is getting red. Neck pain has increased so much that fingers of left hand are full of pains. She can't work normally with the hands. Pain in hip has spread up to the toe. This is dangerous."
The BNP secretary general observed that the former prime minister's knees were transplanted long time ago so it needs special MRI, CT Scan and hospitalisation. "But the government is not providing the facilities."
"She should be taken to hospital today," Fakhrul insisted.
About their preference to a certain hospital, Fakhrul said, "Some people are asking why we are insisting on taking her to United Hospital. It's because we have confidence on that hospital. Patients choose the doctor in whom s/he finds confidence. We think the treatment would be better there."
He also pointed out that the jail code doesn't stop anyone from taking treatment at a private hospital.
"If Sheikh Hasina could be taken to Square Hospital, sent abroad on parole; if Nasim (health minister) and Abdul Jalil (former general secretary of AL) could be taken treatment at Labaid, why would Khaleda Zia not be eligible for treatment at United hospital," Fakhrul asked the government.
"It's only because the government wants to harm her and puts her life into risk," he added.
Fakhrul said the way Khaleda Zia is kept in a solitarty confinement at a building of abandoned jail is a clear violation of human rights and jail code as well.
He warned that the government would have to bear the responsibility if anything happens to Khaleda Zia.
BNP standing committee members Mirza Abbas and Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, vice chairmam AZM Zahid Hossain, and senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, were present at the press conference.
Meanwhile, UNB adds, AL leader Tofail Ahmed said the issue of alternative hospitals would have come had there been any negligence in her treatment.
"She has chosen a specific hospital where she'll ask the physicians of her choice to recommend her treatment abroad. A conspiracy is on to send her abroad," he was quoted to have said.