Khaleda Zia to return home from hospital

Her team of doctors made the decision to continue treatment at home after tests

Five days after she was admitted to Dhaka’s Evercare Hospital for close monitoring, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will return to her home in Gulshan on Friday afternoon.

The BNP chief will return home at 3 pm, under the advice of the medical board, said her personal physician Prof AZM Zahid Hossain.

“The board has scrutinised her test results and decided to continue her treatment at home.”

Sharmila Rahman Shithi, the wife of Khaleda’s deceased son Arafat Rahman, is currently with the former prime minister at the hospital.

The BNP chief was taken to Evercare on Apr 29 for medical tests and was later admitted. A medical board headed by cardiologist Prof Shahabuddin Talukder oversaw her treatment.

“She was ill and was showing some symptoms, so she was admitted,” said AZM Zahid Hossain. “After her treatment, she responded fairly well to the treatment, which was done under close observation by the doctor.

Khaleda has been suffering from a range of health complications, including arthritis, diabetes, and kidney and liver diseases for a long time. Since 2021, she has been in hospital several times for various ailments, including COVID-19.

The BNP chief was sentenced to jail in two graft cases in 2017. The septuagenarian had served her sentence at the old central jail of Dhaka until the government decided to suspend her jail time on medical grounds amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Khaleda was released from prison on Mar 25, 2020 by executive order and the government has already conditionally extended her time out of jail on several occasions, most recently in March.

Her party and family demand that she be allowed to travel abroad for treatment but the government has not granted her permission to leave Bangladesh.