Khaleda Zia in ‘critical condition’, must get care abroad: Doctors
Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson and three time ex-Prime Minister of Bangladesh Begum Khaleda Zia no longer in a condition to be taken home as she is under live risk.
The medical board of Khaleda Zia on Monday said that the former prime minister needs liver transplant immediately and there was nothing more they could do to treat her in Bangladesh.
“We have done all in our capacity. Now we have nothing to do. She needs advanced treatment,” the medical board chief Shahabuddin Talukder said at a press briefing at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka where Khaleda Zia had been taking treatment for the last two months.
He said that the former prime minister needed liver transplant immediately and this facility was not available in Bangladesh.
“Khaleda Zia is suffering from various physical complications including liver cirrhosis.
Water came to her chest and stomach.
There are no treatment options in Bangladesh and just draining her stomach and chest and giving antibiotics.
Her death threat is very high and she needs liver transplants immediately taking her abroad urgently,” Shahabuddin Talukder said.
Coordinator of the Medical Board Dr SM Siddiqui said, “Khaleda Zia’s stomach and chest have accumulated with water.
The liver is infected and we are just giving her high doses of antibiotics.
She is at high risk of live.
Khaleda Zia should have been taken abroad for treatment earlier.”
The physicians are trying their level best despite limitations, he said adding that Khaleda Zia still has a chance for better treatment outside of the country.
Khaleda Zia must be taken out of the country and she needs treatment at a multi-disciplinary medical center abroad, he added.
Dr SM Siddiqui said that four bags of blood have been given so far due to internal bleeding in Begum Zia’s body and she is being kept under close observation for 24 hours.
“We have nothing left as we have done everything we had to do.
Better treatment is the only hope outside of the country,” he added.
Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) and liver transplants are not done in Bangladesh, he said adding that in 2006 and 2008 BIRDEM General Hospital started experimental liver transplant but it could not be continued.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University has started on an experimental basis a few days ago but it was closed again.
So, there is no treatment for Khaleda Zia in Bangladesh and she needs treatment from advanced hospital abroad, Dr SM Siddiqui said.
On September 25, Khaleda’s brother Shamim Iskander submitted an application to the home ministry seeking permission to send the former prime minister abroad for better treatment, but the government rejected the appeal saying there is no scope to allow Khaleda Zia to send abroad for her treatment.
The 78-year-old leader has been suffering from various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung, heart, and eye problems.
Since her conditional release in 2020, the BNP chief has been receiving treatment at the hospital under a medical board headed by cardiology professor Shahabuddin Talukder.
On August 9, Khaleda was admitted to Evercare Hospital after falling seriously ill at her Gulshan house Feroza following on advice of her medical board.
