Khaleda Zia under close observation, says physician

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia is under close observation at hospital, a physician said on Sunday.

Khaleda Zia will be under close observation for 72 hours beginning from 2:00pm on Saturday. After that, on Monday afternoon, an assessment of her health condition can be made, her physician and BNP vice chairman AZM Zahid Hossain told Prothom Alo over mobile phone on Sunday afternoon.

Zahid Hossain said physicians found three heart blocks after she was admitted to hospital on the night of 10 June. Since one of the blocks was critical, a stent was inserted. It is difficult for now to assess the condition of the remaining two heart blocks, he said adding a team of cardiologists are supervising her treatment.

Khaleda Zia was admitted to Evercare Hospital after she suddenly fell ill on 10 June. She last went to the hospital on 6 April for health check-ups.

Khaleda Zia, a former prime minister, has been suffering from various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung and eye problems.

The 76-year-old was last admitted to Evercare on 13 November last year where she was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis.

On 1 February, Khaleda Zia returned home after an 81-day stay at the hospital as she was suffering from internal bleeding caused by liver cirrhosis.

The former prime minister was sent to the Old Dhaka Central Jail as a lower court sentenced her to five years' imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on 8 February 2018.

Later, she was declared guilty in another corruption case the same year.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail through an executive order suspending her sentence on 25 March 2020, with conditions that she will stay at her Gulshan home and not leave the country.