BNP Chairperson and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia is going to London for better treatment. He has already completed all preparations. He will leave Dhaka for London at 10 pm on Tuesday in a ‘Special Air Ambulance’ flight sent by the Emir of Qatar. The date of his return to the country will be fixed on the advice of the doctors. After going through many ups and downs through this trip, Begum Khaleda Zia is meeting with her eldest son and BNP Acting Chairman Tarek Rahman after seven years.

According to party sources, Khaleda Zia is expected to be admitted to the hospital directly after reaching London. After staying in London for a while with his elder son Tariq Rahman, he will go to the United States. He will be treated at the Johns Hopkins University Hospital in East Baltimore, Maryland.

Khaleda Zia will leave Dhaka for London at 10 pm on Tuesday in the ‘Special Air Ambulance’ flight sent by the Emir of Qatar. After seven years of ups and downs, Begum Khaleda Zia is meeting with her eldest son and BNP Acting Chairman Tarek Rahman.-Party sources

Preparations for Khaleda Zia’s foreign journey are complete
Former Prime Minister BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia’s Royal Fleet Air Ambulance has been given to Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani for advanced medical treatment abroad. Begum Khaleda Zia will go to London on Tuesday night by this special air ambulance flight with the latest medical facilities. All preparations for this trip have been completed. As part of that, Khaleda Zia exchanged greetings with all the members of the National Standing Committee of the party’s highest policy-making forum on Sunday night. The BNP leader also met LDP Chairman Colonel (retd) Ali Ahmed and Ambassador Mushfiqul Fazal Ansari separately.

Khaleda Zia has been demanding treatment abroad for half a century
Khaleda Zia went to jail on February 8, 2018 after being sentenced in two cases by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) during the Awami League government led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Since then, Begum Khaleda Zia’s family and team have been demanding multiple times for better treatment abroad. Jail authorities admitted Begum Khaleda Zia to the then Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital, but the government did not allow her to go abroad. In March 2020, he was granted conditional release by the executive order of the then government. Since her release from prison, Khaleda Zia Gulshan’s residence is in Feroza, but during this time she was admitted to Evercare Hospital several times on emergency basis. He has been fitted with a heart ring, has been given ‘tips’ by doctors from the US to treat cirrhosis of the liver. But still the doors of treatment abroad were not opening for him.

Khaleda Zia was released on August 6, the day after the fall of Sheikh Hasina in a student-mass coup on August 5. After this, preparations for his foreign journey began. Khaleda Zia’s medical board and family have met several times about which country she can go to. By this time, Begum Zia’s physical condition did not permit for long journeys. In such a situation, efforts were made to make his physical condition suitable for long journeys, to somehow take him abroad and to clear his passport complications. In the meantime, Begum Zia’s new passport, visa complications have all been resolved. Apart from the UK, he also got visas for the US and Saudi Arabia.

Since 2007, Begum Khaleda Zia’s eldest son Tariq Rahman is acting chairman of BNP in London. Khaleda Zia will arrive in London a few hours after taking off from the skies of Dhaka in a special air ambulance flight at 10 pm on Tuesday. Tariq Rahman will be met there. – Party sources

Khaleda Zia’s travel companion
Although nothing has been officially announced about BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia’s special travel companions this time, party sources said that at least 25 to 30 people including doctors, family members and important leaders of the party may go. However, information has been circulated in various media including social media that a delegation of 15 members including seven doctors will be the tour companions of Khaleda Zia. So far no accurate information has been received from BNP. According to that list, Syeda Sharmila Rahman, wife of Khaleda Zia’s late younger son Arafat Rahman Koko, BNP Chairperson’s personal physician and member of the party’s standing committee Dr. A ZM Zahid Hossain, Dr. Md. Enamul Haque Chowdhury, Tabid Mohammad Awal, Fakhruddin Mohammad Siddique, Md. Shahabuddin Talukdar, Nuruddin Ahmad, Md. Zakir Iqbal, Mohammad Al Mamun, Sharifa Karim Swarna, Chairperson’s personal officer ABM Abdus Sattar, Md. Masudur Rahman, SM Parvez, Fatema Begum and Rupa Shikder.

Where will Khaleda Zia be treated
79-year-old Khaleda Zia, who has been suffering from various health complications including liver cirrhosis, heart disease, kidney problems, will go to the United States for better treatment of her liver after staying at her son’s house in London for a few days.

Begum Khaleda Zia will return to the country only after the treatment is completed. On the way back, he can perform the holy Umrah in Saudi Arabia. There is discussion, acting chairman of BNP Tariq Rahman can also return to the country together with his mother.-BNP leaders and activists

Khaleda Zia will undergo liver transparent treatment at the multidisciplinary care unit of the Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Maryland, USA. In the meantime, all his medical documents, various test reports have been sent there. Three expert doctors of this hospital came to Dhaka on October 26 and performed TIPS-Tips, a special method of medical science to prevent fluid accumulation and bleeding in Khaleda Zia’s liver and stomach at Evercare Hospital. An expert medical team led by them will conduct the BNP Chairperson’s liver transparent treatment. Doctors said that the treatment of Begum Khaleda Zia may take at least two months.

On July 16, 2017, Tariq Rahman met Khaleda Zia for the last time
Since 2007, Begum Khaleda Zia’s eldest son Tariq Rahman, acting chairman of BNP, has been in London. BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia will arrive in London a few hours after taking off from the skies of Dhaka in a special air ambulance flight at 10 pm on Tuesday. And there you will meet Tariq Rahman. Earlier, Khaleda Zia left Dhaka for London on an Emirates Airlines flight on the evening of July 15, 2017 for follow-up treatment of eyes and feet. He stopped at Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Begum Zia landed at London’s Heathrow Airport around 12:50 PM Bangladesh time on July 16. At that time, BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tariq Rahman and a large number of UK BNP leaders welcomed Khaleda Zia at the airport. During this mother-son meeting in London, both Khaleda Zia and Tariq Rahman became emotional. Tariq Rahman then took mother Khaleda Zia to the destination in his own car.

There is a discussion among the leaders and activists that Begum Khaleda Zia will return to the country only after the treatment is completed. On the way back, he can perform the holy Umrah in Saudi Arabia. There is also talk that BNP Acting Chairman Tarek Rahman can return to the country together with his mother.

Business Bangladesh/DS