Khaleda’s health: Physicians advise new tests

Physicians on Tuesday advised to conduct several new tests on ailing BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and they would then decide on her treatment after reviewing the test results.

After that, it will be learned when the former prime minister will return home.

Khaleda Zia was taken to Evercare Hospital in Dhaka for health check-up on Saturday, but physicians advised him getting admission to the hospital and she has undergone various tests at the hospital over the past two days.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Khaleda Zia’s personal physician AZM Zahid Hossain said she is under close observation at the hospital and various tests were run on her heart, liver and kidney.

Hospital physicians also advised for several more tests, which are being conducted now, he said adding physicians would decide on the release of Khaleda Zia from the hospital after reviewing the latest report of all tests.

Khaleda Zia, 78, has been suffering from various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, and kidney, lung, heart, and eye problems.

Khaleda spent some time in 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 from jail through an executive order suspending her sentence on 25 March 2020, on conditions that she would stay at her Gulshan house, and would not leave the country. The suspension order is being extended for six months period since then.

Khaleda Zia contracted Covid-19 in April 2021 and was admitted to Evercare Hospital for several times. In November 2021, Khaleda Zia was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis.

On June 10 last year, the BNP chief suffered a heart attack due to a 95 per cent block in her left artery, and a stent was placed there by removing the blockage at the same hospital the following day.

Physicians also found two more blocks in her blood vessels, but they could not remove those due to her health complications.