Bangladesh opposition leader Khaleda Zia at 'high risk of death'

Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson and former premier Khaleda Zia was at 'high risk of death' and she was shifted to the coronary care unit of one of the country's top private hospitals on Tuesday, according to doctors.

The medical board formed for the treatment of 78-year-old Zia at Evercare Hospital has said that the former prime minister cannot receive the necessary treatment in Bangladesh and needs to be sent abroad for a liver transplant.

"Doctors shifted her to the CCU this evening as some complexities emerged afresh relating to her health," Zia’s personal physician Zahid Hossain told reporters.

He said that Zia's liver cirrhosis disease complicated her heart and kidney conditions requiring her shift to the CCU for constant medical surveillance.

Zia has been under treatment at the expensive hospital since August 9. She was kept at the CCI as she developed infections and breathing problems.

A 17-member panel of doctors is overseeing her treatment at the hospital.

On Monday, the panel recommended better medical intervention for her abroad with one hepatologist familiar with her condition saying 'she is at high risk of death'.

The medical panel led by Professor FM Siddiqui said all options in Bangladesh 'have come to an end, we cannot do anything more'.

Information Minister Hassan Mahmud has said that the medical panel was composed of doctors aligned to BNP and 'they are talking like BNP (activists)”.

He said the government was very sincere so that Zia could get the highest treatment and advised BNP to call in doctors from abroad if needed.

Zia is under house arrest since her conditional release from a 17-year prison sentence in 2020 on two graft charges involving misappropriation of funds of an orphanage named after her slain husband, president Zia-ur Rahman, a military ruler turned politician who founded the BNP.

BNP earlier demanded her to be allowed to undergo treatment abroad.

The government rejected the demand, saying Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina used her discretionary authority to get her released from jail on humanitarian grounds under a special legal provision but the law did not give her the power to send Zia abroad.

Zia’s family last month submitted an application, seeking permission for her treatment in Germany. The government, however, said the existing law required her to return to the jail and then obtain a court order for visiting abroad.

Political scenario in Bangladesh is heating up ahead of scheduled late December 2023 or early January 2024 elections with BNP and most opposition groups saying no election under the incumbent government could be free and fair.

They are demanding restoration of an election time non-party caretaker government, while the ruling Awami League said the polls would go ahead as planned.