BNP leader Rizvi undergoes angioplasty

BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Saturday underwent a successful coronary angioplasty at a city hospital, reports UNB.

A team of physicians, led by cardiologist Prof Dr APM Sohrabuzzaman, performed the angioplasty surgery around 11:45 am at Labaid Specialised Hospital in the city, said Rizvi's personal assistant Arifur Rahman Tushar.

"Sir (Rizvi) has been shifted to the ICU from the operation theatre after the surgery," he said.

Angioplasty is a procedure to clear blocked arteries and restore normal blood flow to the heart. BNP assistant health affairs secretary Dr Rafiqul Islam said there was a block in Rizvi's heart which was disrupting the blood flow. "So, the block has been plasted."

He said the surgery process has been successfully completed and Rizvi has been kept under close observation at the ICU.

Rizvi was admitted to the hospital for the second time on November 17 for the treatment of his cardiac problems.

On October 13, Rizvi was admitted to the same hospital as he suffered a cardiac arrest after joining a human-chain programme in front of the Jatiya Press Club.

Later, doctors found a block in his heart and removed 40 per cent of it with injection and discharged him from the hospital on October 28.