The 76-year-old former premier was hospitalized for 54 days with Covid-19 illness
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia returned to her home on Saturday after being hospitalized for nearly two months for coronavirus infection and other complications.
She arrived at her Gulshan residence around 8.40pm, Shairul Kabir Khan, a member of the BNP chief’s press wing, told media.
A medical board at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka decided to discharge her in a meeting earlier in the day.
“Doctors have decided to discharge her following improvement in her condition,” the BNP chief’s personal physician Dr Mohammad Al Mamun told the media.
Mamun said Khaleda’s medical team members will provide her with treatment at her residence for her underlying health complications.
“She has been moved to her home due to fear of hospital-acquired infections,” FM Siddiqui, who heads Khaleda Zia’s personal medical team, told the media.
The BNP chief’s different medical conditions, including diabetes, arthritis and hypertension, are now under control, he added.
Siddiqui continued: “Doctors found issues with her kidney and liver following a diagnosis at the hospital. She was suffering from different infections when she was shifted to a cabin from the CCU [coronary care unit]. Following blood tests, it was found that she had contracted various infections from the hospital itself.
“Khaleda Zia was kept in the non-Covid zone of the hospital, but some doctors of that zone had tested positive, which is why she has been taken to her residence instead of being treated at the hospital.”
Siddiqui said the BNP chief will receive medical attention in consultation with doctors from both Bangladesh and abroad.
The 76-year-old former prime minister, who had tested positive for Covid-19 on April 11, was admitted to Evercare Hospital on April 27.
The next day, the hospital formed a 10-member medical board, headed by Prof Shahabuddin Talukder, for her treatment.
On May 8, her Covid-19 test came negative, but the BNP chief stayed at the hospital for recovery.
Her family appealed to the government on May 6 to take her abroad for advanced treatment, which was turned down.
Khaleda has been living in her Gulshan residence since the government suspended her imprisonment order in March 2020 after the coronavirus pandemic unfolded in Bangladesh.
She had served 25 months out of 17 years of prison sentences in two graft cases, involving Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust.
