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Published : 01 Dec 2025, 11:21 PM
Former prime minister Khaleda Zia has been put under “special care” after her condition deteriorated around 3:30am on Monday, her medical board sources have said.
The sources would not give more details but said clinicians from abroad had started arriving in Dhaka and that she might be flown abroad if her condition permitted.
Her private physician, other doctors, and senior BNP leaders would not go any further than that about her health condition.
The government, in the meantime, has declared the BNP chairperson as “a very very important person” to facilitate deployment of the elite security force SSF for her.
A government circular Monday night said as a VVIP she would get protection from the Special Security Force.
SSF officers were learnt to be ready to take up positions at the private hospital where the former prime minister was being treated.
A five-strong team of Chinese medical specialists have arrived in Dhaka and were seen entering the Evercare Hospital Monday night.
Hospital officials said the doctors from China had arrived with equipment.
More doctors are expected to arrive from China, sources in the BNP and her medical board said.
She is in a cabin on the third floor, and the entire floor has been cleared by the hospital authorities in response to security concerns, according to sources.
Senior doctors from Dhaka’s Combined Military Hospital were seen Monday night at the private hospital at Basundhara to take care of the widow of former Army chief and president Ziaur Rahman.
BNP sources say China has agreed to provide an aircraft with ambulance facilities to transport the 79-year-old ailing former prime minister abroad.
The Chinese offered to take her to China, but her family, especially son Tarique Rahman, prefers the United Kingdom, sources close to the family said.
The advanced medical team from China has examined her health records and reportedly observed “there’s work to be done to get her out of danger”.
The Chinese air ambulance will need to stop at Dubai or some other place for refuelling, unlike the one earlier provided by the Qatari Emir, which flew her directly to London earlier this year.
The BNP top brass were meeting in an emergency session while doctors from home and abroad were examining her.
Sitting in a room next to Khaleda Zia’s, her personal physician AZM Zahid Hossain was briefing the Standing Committee of which he is also a member.
Her London-based son was chairing the meeting.
Tarique is preparing to travel to Dhaka and expects a new Bangladeshi passport will be issued soon, highly-placed BNP sources said.
The interim government leaders have already indicated that they were ready to respond to urgent requests, such as issuing a one-time travel pass for the acting chair of the BNP.
Sources in the government and BNP say Tarique may also get SSF protection as the most immediate member of Khaleda’s family.
Sources close to Tarique say he would rather have a proper Bangladesh passport than a one-time travel pass as suggested by the interim foreign minister on Sunday.
If the doctors find his mother fit to fly in a specialised aircraft to London, he may not have to travel at all.
On Thursday, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told the media that Khaleda was in “critical condition”, and later as “extremely critical” on Friday.
Following her health updates, Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus urged the nation to pray for her speedy recovery.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin asked for prayers, and said: “At this crucial juncture in our democratic journey, I pray for the speedy recovery of former prime minister [Khaleda]. I appeal to Almighty Allah for her health and also request the people of the country to pray for her.”
The interim government's Advisory Council held a special prayer session for the BNP chair, as did the Jamaat-e-Islami.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wished Khaleda a swift recovery, as did Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi wrote on X: “Deeply concerned to learn about the health of [Khaleda], who has contributed to Bangladesh’s public life for many years.
“Our sincere prayers and best wishes for her speedy recovery. India stands ready to extend all possible support, in whatever way we can.”
After his release from prison in 2008, Tarique travelled to London for treatment and has not returned to Bangladesh since.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Tarique said the decision to return home was not “entirely within his control”.
Describing the matter as “sensitive”, he said the family hoped the “long and anxious wait” for his return would end once the political situation allowed.
Tarique, who has been living in exile in London for 15 years, finally saw his mother in person in January this year, after seven years apart.
Khaleda visited him in London during a medical trip after she was freed from her jail sentence on Aug 6, 2024, returning to Bangladesh in May.
This time around, however, she is not fit to travel abroad for medical treatment, said Fakhrul.
He said a team of the nation’s leading doctors, alongside specialists from Johns Hopkins University in the United States and King’s College London, are overseeing her treatment.
“If, by Allah’s unbound mercy, her condition stabilises, we will consider whether transferring her abroad is possible,” he added.
