Bangladesh
Khaleda Zia Khaleda Zia returns home after 81 days in hospital
Own Correspondent, Dhaka, February 2: BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia has returned to her residence 'Firoza' in Gulshan after being treated at the capital's Evercare Hospital for 81 days.
She left the hospital on Tuesday (February 1) evening with a discharge certificate and reached home at around 8.30 pm.
Meanwhile, on the news of Khaleda Zia's discharge from hospital, leaders and activists of different levels of the party gathered in front of the hospital premises and her Gulshan's house since afternoon. Khaleda Zia was admitted to Evercare Hospital in the capital on November 13. There, the medical board reported bleeding in her 'digestive tract' and cirrhosis of the liver.
Professor Dr. Fakhruddin Mohammad Siddiqui, a member of the medical board set up to treat Khaleda Zia at Evercare Hospital, told a news conference on Tuesday evening that the BNP chairperson was going home to avoid the risk of being infected with Covid-19 amid the rising cases of the virus. However, Khaleda Zia's treatment will continue at home under the constant supervision of the medical board formed in Evercare.
He said although Khaleda Zia's condition was apparently stable, there was no guarantee that there would be no bleeding in future. Coronavirus infection has reached alarming proportions in the country. In January alone, 380 staff members of Evercare Hospital were infected with Covid-19. So we are considering the BNP chairperson's health risks. Since her condition is now stable, we need to keep her at home under our care. That is why the medical board has decided to send her home from the hospital."
Khaleda Zia had to go to jail on February 8, 2018 in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. She was later convicted in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case. The government released her on conditional interim release on March 25, 2020, considering the Corona pandemic, and her health condition as well as age. After that the release period was extended a few times.
In the middle of last year, Khaleda Zia had to go to the hospital twice after being infected with coronavirus. The 76-year-old former Prime Minister has been suffering from various complications including arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung and eye problems for many years.
Despite repeated requests from the BNP to send Khaleda Zia abroad for treatment, the government never responded to the call, citing conditions for her interim release.
