Former Bangladesh PM Zia’s health continues to be critical doctor

Dhaka, Dec 18 (PTI) Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia remains critical even as she continues to receive treatment at a Dhaka hospital, her personal doctor AZM Zahid Hossain said on Thursday.
     Zia, the 80-year-old chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has been undergoing treatment at Dhaka's Evercare Hospital since November 23 for multiple health complications and was shifted to a coronary care unit (CCU) later.
     On December 11, she was placed on “ventilator support to give rest to her lungs and other vital organs.”
     “She is receiving the treatment being given to her properly. Her physical condition continues to stay the same as it was a few days ago,” Hossain, also a member of BNP’s policy making standing committee, told reporters.
     He also described Zia’s condition as “stable” and expected she “will recover and be able to play her proper role in the country's politics.”
     Zia's medical board, in a statement on December 11, said she was kept under round the clock medical watch by a team of local and foreign specialists, as several of her vital organs continued to be under severe stress.
     She was scheduled to be flown to London last week with the medical board’s consent but her departure was delayed as an air ambulance offered by Qatar could not reach Dhaka.
     The doctors later decided that Zia should receive continued treatment at Dhaka's hospital until she was deemed fit to fly.
     Zia’s son and BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman is set to return home on December 25 ending his 17 years of self-exile in London.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)