Former Bangla PM Khaleda Zia receives treatment at home amid COVID-19 lockdown

Former Bangladesh prime minister and main opposition leader Khaleda Zia, who was freed from prison in March after serving 25 months in two corruption cases, is undergoing treatment for multiple ailments at her home here amid the coronavirus pandemic, her family has said.

The 74-year-old Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief is serving a 17-year prison term in two graft cases since February 8, 2018.

Following her release on March 25 for six months on humanitarian grounds after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's approval, Zia was taken to her home 'Feroza' despite demands from the BNP leaders to shift her to the United Hospital for better treatment.

 

"It [transfer to hospital] is not possible right now due to the current state of the country. She is undergoing treatment at home. All the members of the medical board that was formed for her treatment are expert physicians," Zia's sister Selima Islam told bdnews24.com on Friday.

Zia is still in "home quarantine", Selima said, adding that her sister has not recovered from illness.

"She is suffering from arm and leg pain. Her fingers are still bent while she is suffering from diabetes as well," Selima said.

The physicians visit the veteran politician at her home once a week.

"She needs long-term treatment. She has to undergo physiotherapy, follow-up and monitoring for a long time," one of the doctors was quoted as saying in the report.

Entry to 'Feroza' is strictly restricted. Only physicians and some close relatives of Zia are allowed to enter the house, it said.

Zia has served three times as the premier of Bangladesh since 1991. Her party suffered a miserable defeat in the 2018 elections, bagging only six seats in the 300-seat parliament.

Her conviction on "moral turpitude" charges debarred her from contesting the polls.

She was sent to jail in February 2018 by a local court on charges of embezzling foreign donations meant for an orphanage, named after her slain husband and president Ziaur Rehman, during her premiership between 2001 and 2006.

Rehman, a military ruler-turned-politician, was the founder of the BNP.

She was convicted in another corruption case later the same year, though her party claims both cases are politically motivated.

Amid a spike in new coronavirus cases, the Bangladesh government has extended the lockdown until May 16.

The government has also decided to keep shut all the educational institutions in Bangladesh until May 30.

Over 200 people have died and more than 13,700 people have been infected by the coronavirus in the country.

The virus which originated from China's Wuhan city in December has infected over 4 million people and claimed 279,311 lives, according to Johns Hopkins University data.