Staff Reporter :
BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia was taken to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) for medical tests on Saturday.
After taking her some X-ray of her knee and some other tests she was taken back to Old Central Jail at Nazimuddin Road in the city where she has been staying since February 8 after a special court sentenced her five years of imprisonment in a graft case.
The BSMMU Director, Brigadier General Abdullah Al Harun, at a press briefing said that Khaleda Zia’s health condition is apparently well.
“Khaleda Zia was brought to the Radiology Department of the BSMMU to conduct some X-ray tests. Apparently, she seemed to be fit. But the medical board can say what her health condition is. The reports will be prepared by Sunday and will reach to the jail authorities,” he said.
Abdullah Al Harun said that a four-member medical board was present while the tests were conducted in presence of Khaleda Zia’s personal doctors upon her wish.
Khaleda Zia did not make any public appearances since her jailing in a graft case on February 8.
The BNP Chairperson was brought out from the jail around 11:15am. An ambulance carrying the former prime minister, reached the BSMMU around 11:30am. Her tests were completed by around 1:30pm. After she reached the hospital, she was taken to cabin No. 512 of the Cabin Block on the 4th floor for check-up.
A wheelchair was taken for her but she went to the Radiology Department from the cabin block on foot and went back to the ambulance from there, the director said.
Wearing a cream colour sharee, she waved hands with smiling face to the waiting journalists and the BSMMU officials after stepping down from the ambulance on the BSMMU premises.
The BNP chief was taken back to the jail at around 2:00pm.
Huge police and prison guards were deployed in and around BSMMU when Khaleda Zia reached there.
Khaleda Zia’s two lawyers Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon and Advocate Sanaullah Miah went to the cabin to meet her.
Meanwhile, police dispersed and detained several BNP activists as they tried to make a gathering and stage demonstrations in front of the BSMMU.
Khaleda Zia fell sick in the jail on March 29 and postponed a scheduled meeting with the party Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
The government on April 1, formed a medical team with four professors of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital to examine her health condition and ensure her treatment in the jail.
Earlier on Friday, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir claimed that Khaleda Zia was having difficulties in walking and she had some neurological problems that needed immediate treatment. He said this after meeting with Khaleda Zia in jail on the day.
