BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia is in critical condition and needs to be taken abroad urgently for better medical treatment, the medical board formed for her treatment said today.

"Begum Zia is not getting the treatment she needs. She needs a liver transplant. She urgently needs advanced treatment abroad," Professor FM Siddiqui, one of the doctors on the medical board, said in a press conference at Evercare Hospital on Monday (9 October).

Due to a liver infection, water is accumulating in her stomach again and again, he added.

"High doses of antibiotics are not working. Water from the stomach reaches the heart. For this, she has already been taken to CCU twice," the doctor said.

He said 4 bags of blood have been given so far due to internal bleeding in Khaleda Zia's body.

"She is being kept under close observation for 24 hours. We did everything we could do. Better treatment abroad is the only hope. If Begum Zia had been treated with the transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) method 2 years ago, there would have been no bleeding; her condition would not be dangerous," the doctor further said.

Adding that TIPS and liver transplants are not done in Bangladesh, he said, "In 2006 and 2008, liver transplant was started experimentally in BIRDEM but it could not be continued. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University started it on an experimental basis, but it was closed down."

Khaleda Zia, who has been convicted in the Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust corruption cases, has been imprisoned since 8 February, 2018.

On 25 March, 2020, the government's executive order suspended her sentence and released her on condition.

After that, the government extended her release by suspending the sentence for six months. Recently Khaleda Zia's sentence has been suspended and her release period has been extended by six months.

Khaleda Zia has been undergoing treatment at the hospital for the last 51 days since 9 August. The family wants to take her abroad for medical treatment. She was moved to CCU twice in the last two weeks.

The 78-year-old former prime minister has been suffering from various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung, heart, and eye problems.

Since her conditional release in 2020, the BNP chief has been receiving treatment at the hospital under a medical board headed by cardiologist Prof Shahabuddin Talukder.

On 9 August, Khaleda Zia was admitted to Evercare Hospital after falling seriously ill at her Gulshan residence Feroza by the decision of her medical board.

Khaleda was sent to the Old Dhaka Jail after a lower court sentenced her to five years imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on 8 February 2018. Later, she was found guilty in another corruption case the same year.

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

Khaleda Zia has no option other than seeking a presidential pardon to go abroad for medical treatment, Law Minister Anisul Huq said on 4 October.

"The legal issues are now a thing of the past and completely closed. The only thing Khaleda Zia can do right now is to confess to her crime and apologise to the president," he told reporters responding to a question about whether or not Khaleda Zia can seek presidential pardon – just as murder convict Tofael Ahmed Joseph did on 27 May 2018 and went abroad.

Anisul also said Khaleda Zia is not allowed to get treatment abroad as per the provisions in the executive order.