Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser, Professor Muhammad Yunus, visited the critically ill former Prime Minister and Chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Begum Khaleda Zia, at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka on the evening of December 3, 2025.
This significant visit underscored the interim government’s concern for the ailing political leader and its commitment to ensuring she receives the highest level of medical care amidst a delicate political transition following the August 2024 mass student-led uprising that led to the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Khaleda Zia, an eighty-year-old three-time former premier and a central figure in the nation’s political landscape, was admitted to the hospital on November 23 with multiple severe health complications, including a lung infection, and was later shifted to the Critical Care Unit (CCU) as her condition deteriorated.
The visit by the Chief Adviser, who was accompanied by National Security Adviser Khalilur Rahman, lasted for approximately half an hour. Upon his arrival shortly after 7 PM, Professor Yunus was received by key party figures, including BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, her personal physician Professor Dr. AZM Zahid Hossain, and family members, including her late younger son’s wife, Syeda Sharmila Rahman.
During his time at the hospital, Professor Yunus was briefed by the medical team about Begum Zia’s current health status. The physicians confirmed that her treatment is being managed by a comprehensive medical board involving local specialists, alongside support and supervision from international experts.
These international collaborators include doctors from renowned institutions such as Mount Sinai and Johns Hopkins in the United States, as well as medical professionals from the United Kingdom and China. Just days before the Chief Adviser’s visit, specialist medical teams from both the UK and China had arrived in Dhaka to assist the treatment board, highlighting the gravity of her condition and the international focus on her health.
Furthermore, the gravity of the situation was compounded by recent expressions of concern and offers of support from foreign leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, emphasizing the regional importance of her well-being.
The Chief Adviser’s Press Wing released a statement following the visit, noting that Professor Yunus urged Begum Zia’s family, party leaders, and activists to remain patient during this challenging period. Crucially, the Chief Adviser reiterated the interim government’s solemn assurance of providing all necessary support for her treatment, a gesture viewed by many as an effort to ease political tensions and demonstrate the current administration’s impartiality.
This assurance came shortly after the government had taken the significant step of declaring the ailing BNP chief a “Very Important Person” (VIP), or VVIP under the Special Security Force (SSF) Act, leading to the deployment of the elite Special Security Force for her protection at the hospital—a security measure typically reserved for the head of state and government.
This move, along with the hospital visit, signifies a humanitarian and politically conciliatory stance from the interim government, led by the Nobel laureate, at a crucial juncture in Bangladesh’s democratic transition.
The visit also follows similar expressions of official concern, including a prior visit by three armed forces chiefs—the Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Naval Staff, and the Chief of Air Staff—indicating a broader, multi-institutional focus on her health.
The condition of Khaleda Zia, who has long suffered from multiple chronic ailments including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, and cardiac complications, remains a highly sensitive issue dominating the political discourse, especially as the country prepares for a general election, which the interim government has indicated could be held by April 2026.
Her health crisis has placed immense pressure on the BNP, which is widely seen as a frontrunner in the upcoming polls, while its acting chairman and Khaleda Zia’s son, Tarique Rahman, remains in self-exile in London, a situation that adds layers of complexity to the nation’s unfolding political drama. Professor Yunus’s gesture, therefore, is interpreted not only as an act of compassion for a critically ill former national leader but also as a careful political maneuver to maintain stability and goodwill in a politically volatile climate.
