Khaleda to return home this evening from hospital

Staff Correspondent: BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is set to return to her Gulshan residence this evening after receiving treatment for six days at Evercare Hospital in the capital.

“She will be discharged from the hospital today as per the advice of the medical board,” said AZM Zahid Hossain, Khaleda’s personal physician and a BNP standing committee member.

He said the BNP chief underwent various medical tests during her stay in the hospital since early Thursday.

“The board has made the decision after reviewing her health and the latest medical reports,” Zahid said.

The BNP Chairperson is scheduled to leave the hospital at 5:30pm for her Gulshan residence, said her media wing member Shamsuddin Didar.

Khaleda Zia was admitted to the hospital in the early hours of Thursday as her medical board recommended several tests.

Earlier, on August 21, Khaleda Zia returned home after a 45-day treatment at Evercare Hospital.

A group of specialist doctors, led by Prof. Shahabuddin Talukder, successfully installed a pacemaker in Khaleda Zia’s chest on June 23.

Khaleda has long been battling various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, and issues related to her kidney, lung, heart, and eyes.

The BNP chief’s doctors have been recommending sending her abroad since she was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis in November 2021.

On October 26 last year, three US specialist doctors completed the hepatic procedure known as the transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS procedure) to stop water accumulation in Khaleda Zia’s stomach and chest and bleeding in her liver.

She was placed in Old Dhaka Central Jail on February 8, 2018, after a special court sentenced her to five years in prison in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. On October 30, 2018, the High Court raised her punishment to 10 years. Later, she was convicted in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case.

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail after 776 days through an executive order suspending her sentence on March 25, 2020, with the condition that she would stay in her Gulshan house and not leave the country.

On August 6, Khaleda Zia was completely freed by an order of President Mohammed Shahabuddin.

The president passed the order under Article 49 of the Bangladesh Constitution, according to a gazette issued by the home ministry on August 6.

Article 49 states that “The president shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, and respites and to remit, suspend, or commute any sentence passed by any court, tribunal, or other authority.”