UNB, Dhaka

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia was admitted to Evercare Hospital in the early hours of Thursday.

“As per the medical board’s decision, Khaleda Zia was brought to Evercare Hospital at night. The board has recommended several tests,” said her physician Professor AZM Zahid Hossain.

He said Khaleda Zia has been placed in a private cabin following her admission to the hospital.

“The next course of her treatment will be determined after reviewing the test results,” Zahid said.

The BNP chief arrived at the hospital from her Gulshan residence around 1:40 a.m., said BNP media cell member Sayrul Kabir Khan.

Earlier, on August 21, Khaleda Zia returned home after a 45-day treatment at Evercare Hospital.

On 8 July, Khaleda Zia was admitted to Evercare Hospital in the capital six days after she had been discharged from the same hospital with various ailments.

A group of specialist doctors, led by Prof Shahabuddin Talukder, successfully installed the pacemaker in Khaleda Zia’s chest on 23 June.

Khaleda has long been battling various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, and issues related to the kidney, lung, heart, and eyes.

The BNP chief’s doctors have been recommending sending her abroad since she was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis in November 2021.

On 26 October last year, three US specialist doctors completed the hepatic procedure known as the transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS procedure) to stop water accretion in Khaleda Zia’s stomach and chest, and bleeding in her liver.

She was placed in Old Dhaka Central Jail on 8 February, 2018, after a special court sentenced her to five years in prison in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. On 30 October, 2018, the High Court raised her punishment to 10 years. Later, she was convicted in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case.

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail after 776 days through an executive order suspending her sentence on 25 March, 2020, with conditions that she would stay in her Gulshan house and not leave the country.

On 6 August, Khaleda Zia was completely freed by an order of President Mohammed Shahabuddin.

The president passed the order under Article 49 of the Bangladesh Constitution, according to a gazette issued by the home ministry on 6 August.

Article 49 states that “The president shall have power to grant pardons, reprieves, and respites and to remit, suspend, or commute any sentence passed by any court, tribunal, or other authority.”