Seize medical records of Khaleda’s treatment: Dr Siddiqi
Staff Reporter :
Professor Dr FM Siddiqi, head of the medical team of former BNP chairperson and ex-prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, has called for the legal seizure of all medical records held by Bangladesh Medical University (BMU), saying her treatment there requires a full investigation.
He made the demand on Friday afternoon while addressing a civic mourning meeting at the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad complex, organised in memory of Khaleda Zia.
Dr Siddiqi said the current medical board assumed responsibility for Khaleda Zia’s treatment after she was admitted to Evercare Hospital on 27 April 2021 with Covid-19 complications.
“Upon admission and initial tests, we were shocked and deeply concerned to find that Madam was suffering from liver cirrhosis,” he said.
He said discharge papers from BMU showed that she had been prescribed methotrexate on a regular basis for rheumatoid arthritis and that the drug had continued even during her hospital
stay. “We stopped the medicine immediately,” he added.
Dr Siddiqi said Khaleda Zia was also suffering from fatty liver disease, making regular liver function tests and timely imaging essential. “Diagnosing liver disease in such a case is not difficult and does not require extraordinary expertise,” he said.
According to him, standard protocol requires close monitoring of liver function in patients taking methotrexate and stopping the drug if abnormalities appear, followed by at least an abdominal ultrasound.
“Unbelievably, even after liver function tests showed deterioration, the government-appointed doctors neither conducted an ultrasound nor stopped methotrexate,” he alleged.
He said Khaleda Zia had declined ultrasonography at the time due to a lack of trust in the treating doctors.
However, he added that given the seriousness of her condition, a bedside point-of-care ultrasound by a trusted physician could have been arranged, or at the very least the drug should have been discontinued.
Addressing questions about whether Khaleda Zia had been given “slow poison”, Dr Siddiqi said methotrexate was the drug that accelerated her fatty liver disease into cirrhosis.
“In that context, it acted like a slow poison for her liver,” he said.
He described the handling of her treatment as wilful negligence, claiming the rapid deterioration of her liver function pushed her towards death.
“This is an unforgivable crime. It needs to be examined whether this was part of a long-term plan to kill her,” he said.
Dr Siddiqi also said the medical board had evidence of negligence in the treatment of Khaleda Zia’s diabetes and arthritis.
He called for a legal investigation by a high-powered committee into three specific issues: who served on the government-formed medical board and whether they were qualified to take charge of her treatment; which doctors were directly involved during her hospitalisation and whether negligence can be established; and why her personal physicians were not allowed to be included in her treatment team, or who obstructed their involvement.
“For a fair investigation, all BMU documents related to Madam’s treatment must be legally seized,” he said, adding that travel bans on those concerned should be imposed if necessary.
He urged the authorities to contact Khaleda Zia’s family and take prompt legal action. “Delay in justice means denial of justice,” he said.