High Court asks BSMMU if Khaleda given biological treatment

The High Court on Sunday directed the vice-chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University to inform by 5:00pm on Wednesday if BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia was being given ‘advanced biological treatment’ as directed by the Appellate Division on December 12, 2019.

The HC bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice AKM Zahirul Huq also directed the vice-chancellor to inform it about Khaleda’s latest health status if the advanced treatment was being applied on her consent.

The bench adjourned until Thursday the hearing of a fresh application Khaleda filed on February 17 seeking bail in the Zia Charitable Trust case to facilitate her ‘advanced medical treatment abroad like in the United Kingdom’.

The new bail petition was filed amid conflicting political statements by leaders of the ruling Awami League and opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party over her release.

AL general secretary Obaidul Quader had claimed that BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir phoned him and requested him for Khaleda’s release.

But the government, he had mentioned, was yet to get any application from Khaleda seeking release on parole.

Fakhrul, however, said that he had had no talks with Obaidul over Khaleda’s release on parole and that she herself or her family would decide whether or not to seek parole for her.

At Sunday’s hearing, Khaleda’s lawyers prayed for the court’s directive to the BSMMU vice-chancellor to submit the latest medical report about Khaleda’s health condition for properly adjudicating her bail application.

They told the court that Khaleda was shifted to the BSMMU hospital on April 1, 2019 for better treatment.

Since then her treatment has been going on but her health has not been improving, they said.

They submitted that she was now seriously ill and could not move without support from others.

She cannot take food and even cannot take medicine without the help of others, they added.

They mentioned that Khaleda’s sister Selima Islam after visiting her at the BSMMU hospital on February 11 held a press conference and stated that she needed advanced treatment abroad or else it was not possible for her to recover.

Khaleda’s bail application was vehemently opposed by attorney general Mahbubey Alam and Anti-Corruption Commission’s lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan.

They submitted that her bail application had been rejected by the Appellate Division too.

Khaleda’s lawyer submitted that the Appellate Division had affirmed HC’s rejection of her bail application stating that she did not mention in that petition that she would go aboard for advanced medical treatment.

The Appellate Division, however, had directed the BSMMU hospital authorities to provide her advanced biological treatment immediately with her consent.

Biological or biologic therapy is designed to stimulate or restore the ability of the body’s immune (natural internal defence) system to fight infections and diseases.

Biological therapy is also called biotherapy or immunotherapy and is commonly used to treat different kinds of cancer, and other conditions.

Khaleda’s lawyers said that she had been in jail since February 8, 2018, the day when she was sentenced by a special court in Dhaka in a graft case which the BNP terms as false and fabricated.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net