Bangladesh opposition leader Khaleda Zia at 'high risk of death': doctors
The Hindu
Bangladesh Opposition leader Khaleda Zia, 78, is at "high risk" of dying without medical intervention abroad. Her request to travel to Germany for a liver transplant was denied by the government of her rival, PM Sheikh Hasina. Doctors said her condition is deteriorating and all options in Bangladesh have been exhausted.
Bangladeshi doctors said on October 9 opposition leader Khaleda Zia was at "high risk" of dying without urgent medical intervention abroad after authorities rejected a plea to let her leave the country.
Ms. Zia, 78, is a two-time former Prime Minister who heads the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and has been living under effective house arrest since her release from a 17-year prison sentence in 2020.
She has advanced liver cirrhosis, diabetes and heart problems and the government of her bitter rival, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, last week rejected a family request to allow her to travel to Germany for a liver transplant.
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Ms. Zia and Ms. Hasina, 77 are known as the Battling Begums of Bangladesh politics and their internecine rivalry has dominated the politics of the South Asian nation of 170 million people for over four decades.
A panel of 17 doctors who treated Ms. Zia at a top private hospital in the Bangladeshi capital for the last two months backed the family, saying her condition was deteriorating.
"She's at high risk of death," hepatologist Nooruddin Ahmad told reporters.