Khaleda Zia critically ill : Mirza Fakhrul

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Tuesday demanded the government immediately allow party chief Khaleda Zia to go abroad for advanced treatment on humanitarian grounds as she is critically ill.UNB.

“I cannot describe how ill Khaleda Zia is right now. She sat on a chair from the bed in the CCU [of Evercare Hospital] for the first time yesterday [Monday]. She is very weak,” he said.

Speaking at a doa mahfil, he also said doctors advised sending her abroad as there is no advanced centre in Bangladesh for treating Khaleda’s multiple critical diseases.

“We demand the government immediately allow her to receive treatment abroad. You, [govt] please do it on humanitarian grounds in line with her family’s application,” the BNP leader said.

Stating that Khaleda is a leader of democracy, he warned that the government will have to shoulder the responsibility if anything bad happens to her for barring her from going abroad for treatment.

Fakhrul hoped that good sense will prevail upon the government to permit the BNP chief to go abroad for receiving treatment at any advanced centre.

BNP arranged the program on the ground floor of its central office in Naya Paltan seeking speedy recovery of Khaleda.

Referring to a fresh application to the government by Khaleda’s family seeking permission to send her abroad for treatment, Fakhrul said: “We have been repeatedly talking about the issue, but she is not being given that scope.”

He alleged that the BNP chairperson was sent to jail by convicting her in "false" cases as part of a plot to remove her from politics. “There is now a plot to eliminate her life.”

“We pray to Almighty Allah so that she recovers soon, not only for the BNP and her family but also for the country and its 160 million democracy-loving people. She is the leader who struggled for democracy throughout most of her life,” the BNP leader said.

On behalf of the family, Khaleda's younger brother Shamim Iskander submitted an application to the Home Ministry on Thursday urging the government to allow her to go abroad for better treatment.

Khaleda, a former prime minister, was readmitted to Evercare Hospital on Saturday, six days after she had returned home from the hospital.

The BNP chief's physicians said she has been suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, ophthalmological and dental complications.

A physician in her medical team said Khaleda is now suffering from a critical cardiac problem while her blood sugar is out of control and haemoglobin level in her blood has dropped.

The BNP chief’s family applied to the government twice in May and August earlier, seeking permission to take her abroad for better treatment, but the government denied it, saying that there was no scope for a convict to get such an opportunity