Staff Reporter:
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Tuesday said the condition of their party Chairperson Khaleda Zia remained ‘steady’ following the placement of a pacemaker in her chest.
Speaking at a press conference, he also said their party policymakers have decided to take out fresh pro-grams demanding Khaleda’s unconditional release as they believed, as he said, that she was being de-prived of advanced treatment abroad only because of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s vindictiveness.
“As far as I know until this (Tuesday) morning, she was shifted to a cabin yesterday. She couldn’t adjust personally in the CCU (Coronary Care Unit). That’s why she was moved to a cabin with CCU facilities. She remains stable there,” the BNP leader said.
Earlier on Sunday, a team of specialist doctors at Evercare Hospital, led by Prof Shahabuddin Talukder, successfully implanted a pacemaker in Khaleda Zia’s chest. She had previously experienced heart issues involving three blockages.
Khaleda Zia was rushed to Evercare Hospital in an ambulance at around 3:30 am on Saturday after sud-denly falling ill at her Gulshan residence
The press conference was arranged at the BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office to inform the media about the outcomes of the party standing committee’s virtual meeting held on Monday.
Fakhrul alleged that Khaleda was sentenced and imprisoned on false charges, as the government’s prima-ry objective was to eliminate her from politics.
He claimed that Khaleda became ill during her two-year solitary confinement in Old Dhaka Central Jail without receiving proper treatment.
When their party chief was released on two conditions, Fakhrul said she was diagnosed with liver cirrho-sis.
“This is not a minor illness; cirrhosis is a major disease. Doctors told us that without a liver transplant, there is no viable treatment for her. Such procedures are not available in Bangladesh,” he observed.
The BNP leader stated that their party and Khaleda’s family members made significant efforts to secure proper treatment for her.
He mentioned that they even brought doctors from Johns Hopkins University in the US who performed a hepatic procedure known as TIPS to address water accumulation in Khaleda’s stomach and chest, as well as bleeding in her liver.
“That’s why she’s still alive. But this isn’t a permanent solution. The only real solution is a liver trans-plant. She needs to be sent abroad to a multidisciplinary medical centre for comprehensive treatment by controlling the other ailments…that’s what we’ve been saying for a long time,” Fakhrul said.
He said all arrangements were made by the BNP chief’s family to send her abroad earlier for treatment, but the Prime Minister finally turned down the application seeking permission for this purpose.
“Not only that, we sent letters to different missions regarding the matter and they made repeated efforts to persuade the government, but they failed. They informed us, ‘Sorry, she didn’t agree. She’s very vin-dictive.’ That’s what they conveyed to us,” Fakhrul said.
