UK specialists will join the international medical board already supervising the former prime minister’s treatment
PTI
Dhaka, Updated At : 02:00 AM Dec 03, 2025 IST
A team of medical experts from the UK will visit Bangladesh to assess treatment for former prime minister Khaleda Zia, who remains in critical condition at a private hospital.
Zia’s aide, AZM Zahid Hossain, told reporters outside Evercare Hospital that the UK specialists would join the international medical board already overseeing her care. “Experts from the UK will come today (Tuesday) to examine her,” he said, adding that India, China, the US, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan had also offered medical assistance. Hossain said a medical board comprising doctors from the UK, the US and Bangladesh was monitoring Zia’s treatment.
Hossain reiterated there was no scope to take the 80-year-old Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson abroad at this stage. He noted: “We have made all preparations, but the most important thing to remember is the current condition of the patient and, above all, we do not have any opportunity to do anything that is outside the medical board’s recommendations at the moment.” He said the board was continuously monitoring Zia and that she was receiving proper treatment. “We hope she will recover this time based on the treatment she is receiving and the prayers of the whole nation,” he added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier expressed deep concern and offered all possible support.
Zia, a three-time prime minister, was admitted to the private hospital on November 23 after being diagnosed with infections affecting her heart and lungs. Her condition worsened and she was moved to the coronary care unit four days later. BNP Vice-Chairman Advocate Ahmed Aazam Khan said her condition deteriorated further and she was placed on ventilation on Sunday night.
Security around Zia was tightened early Tuesday. Police erected a barricade at the main gate of Evercare Hospital around 2 am and more than two dozen personnel were deployed to regulate movement and reinforce security. The interim government on Monday declared Zia a “very, very important person,” allowing deployment of the Special Security Force (SSF) for her protection. Four SSF personnel inspected several sections of the hospital overnight. Zia is staying in a cabin on the fourth floor, and surrounding cabins have been vacated as part of heightened security protocols.
Special prayers for Zia’s recovery are being held across Bangladesh — in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chattogram, Barishal, Sylhet and Mymensingh — by BNP units and supporters. Many have posted prayers and messages on social media wishing her a swift recovery. Zia’s son and BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, in a social media post on Tuesday, thanked people for the “remarkable outpouring of support” and prayers from home and abroad, calling the collective support a source of “immense strength.” BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed told reporters that Rahman, who has been living in self-exile in London for over a decade, “will return to Bangladesh soon.”
