Khaleda Zia doing fine after successful procedure: Fakhrul

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is doing fine after undergoing a successful hepatic procedure at Evercare Hospital, party Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said today.

"As you all know, three expert doctors arrived here from abroad. They were able to perform the (TIPS) procedure very successfully yesterday (Thursday) evening," he said.

TIPS stands for transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt which is a procedure to create new connections between two blood vessels in the liver.

Speaking at a press conference at BNP‍‍`s Nayapaltan central office, Fakhrul said Khaleda is now staying in the CCU of the hospital.

"Doctors are talking to her...so far her condition is good," the BNP leader said.

Earlier on Thursday evening, the visiting three US specialist doctors conducted the special TIPS procedure on Khaleda to stop water accretion in her stomach and chest, and bleeding in her liver.

The US doctors -- Hamid Rabb, Christos Georgiades and James PA Hamilton from Johns Hopkins University‍‍`s School of Medicine -- decided to complete the TIPS procedure on Khaleda after assessing her health and medical test reports.

A TIPS is a procedure that involves inserting a stent (tube) to connect the portal veins to adjacent blood vessels that have lower pressure. This relieves the high blood pressure in the portal vein (called portal hypertension) that often occurs in the setting of liver cirrhosis.

On Wednesday, Dr Rabb, and Dr Hamilton reached Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 7:15pm. Dr Georgiades arrived at the airport around 2:00am Thursday.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has been undergoing treatment at the Evercare Hospital in Dhaka since August 9.

The 78-year-old former prime minister has been suffering from various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung, heart, and eye problems.

On October 9, the BNP chief‍‍`s medical board at Evercare Hospital said the former prime minister‍‍`s life is at risk because of a lack of proper treatment to stop water accretion in her stomach and chest, internal bleeding and infections caused by her liver cirrhosis problem.