Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus on Wednesday (December 3, 2025) visited critically ill former Prime Minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Khaleda Zia at a private hospital in the capital.

“The Chief Adviser stayed at the hospital for nearly half an hour and urged her family, party leaders and activists to keep patience,” Mr. Yunus’ press wing said in a statement following his visit to the Evercare Hospital.

It added that the chief of a medical board formed to treat Ms. Zia briefed Yunus about her health condition and said experts of two major U.S. hospitals and several other physicians from “different countries, including Britain and China” were overseeing her treatment procedures.

“He reassured all sorts of government support (for Ms. Zia),” the statement read.

Ms. Yunus’ visit came a day after three armed forces chiefs, General Waker uz Zaman, Admiral M Nazmul Hassan and Air Chief Marshal Hasan Mahmood visited her at the Evercare Hospital, where Ms. Zia is being treated for the past 11 days.

No concrete update on Ms. Zia’s health was made by her doctors, family or party since her personal doctor and BNP Standing Committee Member AZM Zahid Hossain on Tuesday (December 2, 2025) said she is responding to treatment being provided.

“Begum Khaleda Zia has been undergoing treatment in the CCU of Evercare Hospital since November 27 and is responding to the treatment being provided by the doctors,” he told a media briefing outside the hospital.

According to media reports, Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a second medical team comprising four expert doctors hours after four British doctors arrived in Dhaka to assist the team treating the three-time Bangladesh premier.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday (December 1, 2025) voiced deep concern over the health of Khaleda Zia and offered all possible support.

“Deeply concerned to learn about the health of Begum Khaleda Zia, who has contributed to Bangladesh’s public life for many years,” Mr. Modi said in a post on social media.

“Our sincere prayers and best wishes for her speedy recovery. India stands ready to extend all possible support, in whatever way we can,” it added.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif also sent a letter wishing her a swift recovery, conveying his “sincerest prayers and good wishes”.

Ms. Zia was hospitalised on November 23 with multiple health issues, and she was shifted to the CCU of the Evercare Hospital on November 27 as her condition deteriorated.

The ex-premier’s younger brother Shamim Iskandar, his wife Kaniz Fatema, and Zia’s deceased younger son’s wife Sharmila Rahman are among the relatives present at the hospital.

Her elder son and BNP’s self-exiled acting chairman Tarique Rahman is overseeing the treatment from London.

Mr. Rahman has been living in London since 2008, while he was charged and convicted in several graft and criminal cases during the then military-backed caretaker government and subsequent Awami League regime of deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

But the interim government withdrew all the cases, and courts acquitted him under revised judgments, while several advisers said there was no bar for his return and promised him the required security on his arrival.

Foreign adviser Touhid Hossain said that the authorities were ready to issue his travel document in a day if his passport had expired, but the Bangladesh embassy in the U.K. received no request so far for his travel document.

In a rare joint public visit, the chiefs of Bangladesh’s three armed services met ailing former prime minister Khaleda Zia at the hospital where she is undergoing treatment, according to the military’s media wing on Wednesday (December 3, 2025).

Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman, Navy Chief Admiral Mohammad Nazmul Hassan, and Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan visited Zia at Evercare Hospital on Tuesday (December 2), the Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate (ISPR) said in a brief statement.

According to news portal bdnews24.com, their vehicles were seen entering the hospital’s main gate around 9 p.m. The three service chiefs stayed inside briefly and left shortly after 9:20 p.m.

Quoting Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) media cell member Shairul Kabir Khan, the state-run BSS news agency said the chiefs spoke with Zia’s family members and her medical team, and offered prayers for her recovery.

Later in the night, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Shafiqur Rahman also visited the 80-year-old ailing BNP chairperson.

The three-time prime minister was admitted to the private hospital on November 23 after being diagnosed with infections affecting her heart and lungs.

She was moved to the coronary care unit four days later as her complications worsened.

Her condition deteriorated further, and she was placed on ventilation on Sunday night, BNP Vice-Chairman Advocate Ahmed Aazam Khan had said.

Security was tightened around Ms. Zia on early Tuesday (December 2) after the interim government on Monday (December 1) declared her a “very, very important person”, enabling the deployment of the Special Security Force (SSF) for her protection.

Ms. Zia is currently staying in a cabin on the fourth floor, where surrounding cabins have been vacated as part of heightened security protocols.

Special prayers for Ms. Zia’s recovery are being held across Bangladesh, including in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chattogram, Barishal, Sylhet and Mymensingh, by BNP units and supporters.

Many supporters also took to social media to post prayers and messages wishing her a swift recovery.

BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed told reporters late Monday (December 1) that Ms. Zia’s son and BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, who has been living in self-exile in London for over a decade, “will return to Bangladesh soon”.

His remarks followed a meeting of the BNP’s top decision-making body, which also discussed the current political situation and strategies for the upcoming election campaign.

BNP has re-emerged as the frontrunner in Bangladesh’s changed political landscape after a student-led violent street protest toppled then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5, 2024 According to BNP leaders, Rahman, who has been in London since 2008, is awaiting the issuance of a new Bangladeshi passport, as he is unwilling to use a one-time travel pass offered by the interim government.

At a press conference on Monday, Election Commission Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said Rahman is not registered as a voter in Bangladesh but may do so if permitted by the EC.