Jatiya Party chief Ershad put on life support: Health minister

The condition of ailing Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad now undergoing treatment at the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka has deteriorated further, according to Health Minister Zahid Malik.

Speaking to reporters after visiting Ershad at the hospital on Monday, Malik revealed that the 89-year-old former military strongman has been placed on life support. 

Ershad has been ill for quite some time, suffering from low haemoglobin count and liver complications. He was admitted to the CMH on June 22.

“His condition is critical. He is on life support. The overall situation is critical,” said Malik, the son of retired colonel Abdul Malik, a former minister in Ershad’s government.

On the treatment of the leader of the official opposition in parliament, he said, “The doctors have given their opinions, He is not in a state to travel abroad. He will receive every possible treatment here.”

Ershad’s brother GM Quader, also acting chairman of Jatiya Party, and Moshiur Rahman Ranga, the party’s secretary general, were also at CMH.

The party had so far said that Ershad was being treated in the hospital’s ‘Critical Care Unit’. But on Monday, AKM Mustafa, a member of Jatiya Party’s central committee, in a Facebook post revealed that the party chief had been transferred to the Intensive Care Unit. 

According to party leaders,  his condition was improving on Saturday before taking a turn for the worse on Sunday morning.
  
Word of Ershad’s death subsequently began spreading on Sunday evening but his brother Quader moved to dismiss it as a ‘rumour’. 

Ershad's lung infection spread to his kidneys, Quader told bdnews24.com on Monday. “He has been put on oxygen support. The situation has not changed much. We hope he’ll recover.”