Allow her treatment abroad

BNP standing committee has demanded that the government immediately allow party Chairperson Khaleda Zia to go abroad for better treatment.

"AFM Siddique, head of the medical board formed for overseeing her treatment, informed us that Khaleda Zia recovered from Covid-19, but she is suffering from post-Covid complications. She is not out of danger yet," BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said at a press briefing at party chairperson's Gulshan office yesterday.

The BNP leader said the former premier needs to be taken abroad for better treatment for liver and other complications.

Khaleda was admitted to Evercare Hospital on April 28, three days after she tested positive for coronavirus for the second time. She was released from the hospital on June 19. She first tested positive on April 11.

The BNP chief has also arthritis, diabetes and eye problems.

Fakhrul said, "Earlier, family members of Khaleda Zia talked about her taking abroad for treatment. We took a resolution in the party's standing committee meeting that she needs treatment abroad. The government should do everything immediately to take her abroad."

The government released Khaleda from jail on March 25 last year, suspending her sentence as per section 401 (1) of the Criminal Code of Procedure. The suspension was later extended twice.

The BNP chairperson landed in 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.