Home
+
She has provided biometric fingerprints, her physician says
Published : 27 Nov 2024, 07:04 PM
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has provided biometric information after visiting the US embassy in Dhaka to complete her visa application.
"Madam might have to travel to the United States for better treatment. That's why she visited the American embassy to provide biometric fingerprints [Wednesday],” Khaleda’s personal physician and BNP Standing Committee member Prof AZM Zahid Hossain said.
Alongside Zahid, BNP Organising Secretary Shama Obaid, Khaleda's Personal Secretary ABM Abdus Sattar and physician Mohammad Mamun accompanied her to the embassy.
The 79-year-old former prime minister has been battling a combination of liver cirrhosis, cardiac disease, lung problems, arthritis, kidney ailments, and diabetes.
She had to receive treatment several times at Dhaka’s Evercare Hospital for a long time in the last four years.
The doctors there suggested taking Khaleda to a 'multi-disciplinary centre' in a developed country for better treatment.
According to doctors, she is preparing to go to London first and then to the US.
On Feb 8, 2018, the BNP chief was sent to jail with a five-year sentence in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case.
The sentence was increased to 10 years after an appeal hearing at the High Court in October of that year.
She was sentenced to prison for seven years in the Zia Charitable Trust graft case afterwards.
The BNP chief was released from jail by executive order in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The order was extended every six months by the government, but prevented her from travelling abroad.
The Sheikh Hasina government repeatedly turned down requests from Khaleda’s family to send her abroad citing the ban.
After the fall of the Awami League government during a mass protest, President Mohammed Shahabuddin remitted her sentence on Aug 6 under Article 49 of the Constitution.
On Oct 30, Khaleda’s physician Prof Zahid Hossain said it had been decided to take her abroad for medical treatment.
She will first fly to London in a specialised air ambulance to join her son, Tarique Rahman.
She will then be transferred to a 'multidisciplinary medical centre' in a third country, according to Zahid.
Khaleda may require a liver transplant, according to sources.
There are a couple of medical centres in the US that provide this service. Specialist doctors at those centres have already been contacted.
However, the date of the BNP chairperson's departure from the country is yet to be announced.
