Khaleda Zia was put on life support on December 11 after her breathing difficulties increased, oxygen level dropped and carbon dioxide levels rose.
Published: December 18, 2025 5:57 PM IST
Khaleda Zia health update: Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda remains on ventilator support at Dhaka’s Evercare Hospital where her condition continues to be critical, doctors said Thursday.
According to Khaleda Zia’s personal physician and BNP standing committee member AZM Zahid Hossain, the 80-year-old former premier remains critical and her condition continues to remain unchanged since being place on ventilator on December 11 “to give rest to her lungs and other vital organs.”
“She is receiving the treatment being given to her properly. Her physical condition continues to stay the same as it was a few days ago,” Hossain told reporters, while describing the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson’s condition as “stable”, and expressing hope that the three-time former PM “will recover and be able to play her proper role in the country’s politics.”
Why Khaleda Zia was placed on ventilator support?
On December 12, chief of the medical board cardiologist Shahabuddin Talukdar, in a statement, said Khaleda Zia was put on life support after her breathing difficulties increased, oxygen level dropped and carbon dioxide levels rose.
Zia, who has been undergoing treatment at Dhaka’s Evercare Hospital since November 23 for multiple health complications, was previously being treated with “High Flow Nasal Cannula and BiPAP support, but as there was no improvement, she was placed on elective ventilator support to give rest to her lungs and other vital organs,” Talukdar said.
According to the statement, the three-time premier’s condition is being monitored round-the-clock by a team of local and foreign specialists, as several of her vital organs continue to be under severe stress.
Will Khaleda Zia’s ill health impact BNP?
Khaleda Zia’s ill health comes as a major setback for her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) ahead of the Bangladesh general elections, the country’s first after the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, which are scheduled to be held on February 12, 2026.
Last week, Bangladesh Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin, in a televised address to the nation announced that the country’s 13th Parliamentary Elections will be held on February 12. Voting will take place on February 12, 2026, from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm,” the CEC announced.
The last general elections in Bangladesh were held in January 2024, in which Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League had secured a landslide win, amid controversy and boycott by major opposition parties, including former PM Khaleda Zia-led BNP.
In the absence of Hasina’s Awami League, which was disbanded by the Muhammad Yunus-led Interim government earlier this year, Zia’s BNP has emerged as the as the frontrunner, with its once ally Jamaat-e-Islami being the main rival.
Why Zia was hospitalised?
In May this year, Khaleda Zia, the former three-time prime minister of Bangladesh, returned to the country from London after undergoing advanced medical treatment in the UK capital for over four months.
She was hospitalised on November 23 after she developed a chest infection that affected both her heart and lungs, and four days later, she was shifted to the coronary care unit (CCU) after several of her health complications worsened.
The 80-year-old BNP chairperson was scheduled to be flown to London last week with the medical board’s consent but her scheduled departure was delayed as an air ambulance offered by Qatar could not reach Dhaka. The doctors later decided the former premier should receive continued treatment at the Evercare Hospital until she was deemed fit for the flight.
(With inputs from agencies)
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