Khaleda Zia returns home from hospital after five months

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia returned home from hospital on Thursday after receiving treatment for her various health complications for five months.

The BNP chief reached her Gulshan residence around 7:00pm today, said a press release of the party. Khaleda Zia had been receiving treatment at the Evercare Hospital since 9 August 2023.  

A Facebook Live from BNP’s verified page showed that hundreds of leaders-activists of the party on motorbikes accompanying Khaleda Zia’s vehicle while she was returning home. The BNP leaders-activists on motorbikes were chanting slogans against the government and recently held election. Traffic congestion was created on the airport road due to the procession.  

Khaleda Zia's personal physician and AZM Zahid Hossain told Prothom Alo last night that medical board formed for her treatment met on Tuesday night and decided to discharge her from the hospital.

The 78-year-old former prime minister has long been suffering from various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung, heart, and eye problems. Her family sought permission from the government on different occasions to take her abroad but the government maintained that Khaleda Zia has no scope to go abroad for treatment as she was released on conditions suspending her sentence in corruption cases.

On 27 October, three US specialist physicians did a surgery and now the former prime minister’s physical condition is stable, said the physicians.

Khaleda Zia was sent to the Old Dhaka Jail after 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 sentence on 25 March, 2020, with the condition that she stay in her Gulshan house and not leave the country. That has since been extended multiple times to keep her out of jail.