Pacemaker implanted in Khaleda's chest: medical board

The medical board, formed to treat BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, has completed the procedure for implanting a pacemaker in her chest at the city's Evercare Hospital.

She will be under the supervision of doctors in the coronary care unit (CCU) for the next 72 hours, AZM Zahid Hossain, personal physician of Khaleda, told The Daily Star tonight.

"Madam [Khaleda] has a cardiac problem and there was a block in her heart for which stenting was done earlier. The medical board decided to implant a pacemaker considering her physical condition," he said earlier.

Zahid sought prayers from the people of the country for her speedy recovery.

The BNP chairperson has been receiving treatment at the CCU since she was admitted to the hospital early Saturday.

Khaleda was rushed to Evercare Hospital in an ambulance around 3:30am as she suddenly fell ill at her residence, "Firoza" in Gulshan.

She was immediately admitted to the CCU, where medical treatment began under the supervision of the medical board.

Earlier, when Khaleda went to Evercare Hospital on May 1 for a regular health check-up, doctors treated her at the CCU for two days.

The former prime minister, 79, has long battled various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, and issues related to the kidney, lung, heart, and eyes.

Since her conditional release from prison in 2020, the BNP chief has been receiving medical care repeatedly at the hospital under the supervision of a medical board headed by cardiologist Prof Shahabuddin Talukder.

Khaleda's doctors have been advising sending her abroad since she was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis in November 2021.

On October 26, last year, three US specialist doctors completed a hepatic procedure known as the transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS procedure) to stop water accumulation in Khaleda's stomach and chest, and bleeding in her liver.