Mohammed Nasim in deep coma: medical board

Infected with Covid-19 and later suffering a stroke, former health minister and Awami League MP Mohammed Nasim is now in a "deep coma" as his condition has deteriorated further.

A thirteen-member medical board, led by Kanak Kanti Barua, said this after a meeting at the Bangladesh Specialised Hospital at Dhaka's Shyamoli where Nasim is being treated.

"His condition is very critical at present. He is not responding and is now in a deep coma," Prof Kanak Kanti Barua, vice chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and a renowned neurosurgeon, told The Daily Star over telephone.

The medical board sat in the meeting at 4:00pm and continued for over an hour, he also said.

Earlier, talking to The Daily Star, Dr Raziul Haque, a neurosurgeon of Bangladesh Specialised Hospital, said the AL senior leader was unconscious and on a ventilator in the ICU.

Dr Raziul also told our correspondent over telephone that Mohammed Nasim's blood pressure is unstable.

"We are using medicine to keep the blood pressure under control. His overall condition is critical as he is infected with Covid-19 and had a stroke," he said.

Nasim's son Tanvir Shakil Joy, also a former Awami League MP, told media on Friday that his father had undergone a successful surgery after suffering a stroke.

On June 1, Nasim was admitted to Bangladesh Specialised Hospital as he was feeling unwell. Later, he tested positive for coronavirus.