Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir left Bangladesh for Singapore on Monday morning for regular health checkup.

Fakhrul accompanied by his wife Rahat Ara Begum left Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport via a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight around 8:30 am, his personal assistant M Yunus Ali told UNB.

He said Fakhrul is scheduled to have treatment at a Singapore clinic for various health issues, including a blockage in his neck.

He said the BNP leader is scheduled to return home on March 18.

After being released from jail on February 15, Fakhrul went to Bangladesh Specialised Hospital with various health problems and received treatments at home under supervision of Prof Shamsul Arfein of the hospital, he said.

BNP vice-chairman Professor AZM Jahid Hossain said their leader Fakhrul lost six kilograms of weight in over three months in jail since October 29.

Earlier on August 24, 2023, the 77-year-old BNP secretary general went to Singapore for a medical checkup.

His internal carotid artery problem was detected in 2015 when he had been in prison in a political case.

After being released from the jail, he went to Singapore and since then he goes to the country every year for follow-up treatment.

Members of Detective Branch arrested the BNP leader from his Gulshan residence a day after police foiled the party’s scheduled 28 October grand rally in the capital.

After securing bail from the High Court, he walked out of the Dhaka Central Jail on February 15.