Khaleda Zia 'refuses' to go to BSMMU for treatment


FE Team | Published: March 10, 2019 13:00:10 | Updated: March 10, 2019 18:06:54


Focus Bangla file photo shows BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia

Prison authorities say that incarcerated BNP chief Khaleda Zia has refused to go to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) hospital for treatment despite their preparations to receive her.

Dhaka old central jail official said at 11:45am on Sunday: “She has refused. She will not go.”

Khaleda has been imprisoned at the old central jail in Old Dhaka since February 2018. She has received 17 years in prison over the Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust graft cases.

The BNP chief is the only inmate at the prison, according to a bdnews24 report.

Khaleda was previously brought to BSMMU on October 7 for treatment at the recommendation of her medical board. She was at the hospital for about a month before being taken back to prison.

The 74-year-old BNP chief is suffering from arthritis and several other medical problems.

She has had to sit in a wheelchair to attend the hearings in various cases against her. She was also seen in a wheelchair when taken from jail to the hospital last year.

BNP leaders have alleged that their chief is not receiving proper care in prison and that her health has ‘greatly deteriorated’.

A BNP delegation went to the Secretariat to speak with the home minister last Tuesday to demand that she be transferred to Dhaka’s United Hospital for treatment.

After the meeting, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said the medical board had gone to the prison on February 24 to conduct some tests on Khaleda Zia. He said that the BNP chief would be taken to BSMMU for tests ‘soon’ based on their recommendations for further tests.

The prison and BSMMU began preparing for the BNP chief to be transferred from the prison. Fire service vehicles, ambulances and law enforcement vehicles were seen outside the prison gates.

Cabins 621 and 622 were cleaned on Sunday morning in preparation for the arrival of the former prime minister. A number of police personnel were also deployed in front of the cabin block.

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