BNP chief Khaleda returns home after 54 days in hospital for COVID illness

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has returned home after 54 days of hospitalisation for her COVID-19 illness.

She arrived at her home in Dhaka’s Gulshan from Evercare Hospital by a car around 8:30pm on Saturday.

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary general of the party, and Khaleda’s brother Shamim Eskander received her.

A medical board met in the afternoon at the hospital and decided to discharge her, said Professor AZM Zahid Hossain, personal physician of the former prime minister.

Fakhrul also talked to a member of the 10-member medical board, headed by cardiologist Shahabuddin Talukder, in the afternoon.

Suffering from post-COVID complications, Khaleda will be treated at home.

The BNP chief was receiving treatment at her home in Gulshan after contracting the coronavirus in mid-April.

She was hospitalised on Apr 27 and later shifted to the coronary care unit as she complained of respiratory distress.

The 76-year-old politician tested negative on May 9, but stayed at the hospital for recovery. She also has diabetes and arthritis. 

The BNP chief has been living in her Gulshan residence since the government suspended her imprisonment order in March 2020.

She had served 25 months out of 17 years of prison sentences in two graft cases, involving Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust.