Politics

Khaleda Zia under ‘close observation’

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia is under physicians’ close observation at Evercare Hospital in the capital, her personal physician professor AZM Zahid Hossain told reporters on Monday.

He said that the medical board is meeting and reviewing Khaleda Zia’s health condition two to three times a day and providing her with necessary treatment.

Earlier on August 10, Khaleda Zia was admitted to the hospital for some medical tests.

She has been suffering from arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung, and eye issues for a long time. She was diagnosed with Covid-19 and spent 81 days in hospital care in 2021.

She also experienced bleeding in the digestive tract and liver cirrhosis later in November.

Khaleda Zia was convicted in two graft cases and taken to jail in 2018. In April 2020, in the light of the Covid pandemic, the government granted a request from her family for a conditional temporary release from jail for “humanitarian reasons”.

She has since stayed at her Gulshan home under the care of her personal doctors and has had limited interaction with others.

Her family petitioned the government several times for permission to take her abroad for medical treatment. The government repeatedly denied the request, claiming it is impossible under the current law that allows her to stay out of jail.