Prison authorities have brought BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Hospital to conduct medical tests.
The vehicle, which transported her from the old jailhouse on Nazimuddin Road, arrived at the BSMMU Hospital in Shahbagh around 11:30am on Saturday amid heavy security in and around the premises.
She got off the car and walked to get on the elevator for the hospital’s cabin block, where the authorities have already designated Cabin 512 for conducting the medical tests.
The former prime minister will undergo an X-Ray and a blood test, authorities said earlier.
The hospital’s Department of Radiology and Imaging’s X-Ray Room 1/A and Cabin Block Department of Pathology Blood Test Room have been prepared for her tests.
Khaleda will be taken back to the prison after the medical tests, Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Joint Commissioner Nazmul Alam told Bangla Tribune.
The BNP chief has been sentenced to five years in jail on charges of misappropriating foreign funds meant for the Zia Orphanage Trust.
She has been serving her term at the old jailhouse in Nazimuddin Road as the lone inmate since Feb 8, when the court convicted her of a breach of trust by a public servant under the Bangladesh Penal Code.
Security has been heightened in and around the BSMMU Hospital, where Khaleda’s deceased son Arafat Rahman Coco’s wife and daughter have been waiting to meet her.
The police, however, informed them that no one will be allowed to meet Khaleda without the authorities’ clearance.
BNP supporters have gathered in the Shahbagh area on Saturday, when police detained at least four people.
Amid reports of Khaleda’s illness, a board was formed headed by Dhaka Medical College Department of Orthopedics chief Md Shamsuzzaman. Other board members are Dr Mansur Habib (neurology), Titu Mia, and Soheli Rahman (physical medicine).
The board examined the BNP chairperson in prison last week and said that her illness was not serious.
Khaleda Zia’s personal doctors had said she had heart, eye and knee problems and have to take medications.
On Apr 8, jail authorities denied a request from her personal doctors to meet her.
The BNP has expressed its concern over the party chief’s health. BNP leader Moudud Ahmed has claimed the board formed for her treatment was just for show.
On Friday, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir visited Khaleda.
“Madam’s health is not good,” he told the media later, when he urged authorities to allow her personal physicians to examine her.
“Her arthritis has been deteriorating. She is finding it difficult to walk. She also has symptoms of neurological problems,” he said.
However, when 73-year-old Khaleda arrived the hospital on Saturday, she walked to get on the elevator from the car despite the hospital authorities arranged for a wheel-chair.

Photo: Nashirul Islam