Bangladesh's first female prime minister Khaleda Zia dies at 80

Bangladesh's ​former first female prime ‌minister, ​Khaleda Zia, has died at the age of 80 after a prolonged illness, her personal physician said on Tuesday.

Zia was Bangladesh's first female prime minister and chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). She had been battling multiple health issues for quite some time and the latest was a chest infection for which she was admitted to Dhaka's Evercare Hospital on November 23, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

Her personal physician Dr AZM Zahid Hossain said she breathed her last early on Tuesday morning around 6 am while receiving treatment.

Zia had been suffering from multiple complex and chronic health conditions, including liver and kidney complications, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis and infection-related problems.

Members of her family were present at the hospital at the time of her death, including her elder son Tarique Rahman; his wife Zubaida Rahman; their daughter Zaima Rahman.

The wife of her late younger son Arafat Rahman Coco, Syeda Shamila Rahman; Coco’s two daughters Jahia Rahman and Jafia Rahman; Khaleda’s younger brother Shamim Eskander and his wife Kaniz Fatema; the wife of her late brother Sayeed Eskander, Nasrin Eskander; her sister Selina Islam, among others.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was also present at the hospital.

Doctors at the hospital had kept Zia under observation when during routine tests, the chest infection was detected.

Her condition worsened on November 27, prompting her transfer to the hospital’s Coronary Care Unit (CCU).

In the early hours of Tuesday, Professor Hossain, a member of the medical board overseeing her treatment, had described her state as “very critical.”

Her family rushed to the hospital as her condition worsened and at around 2 am, Professor Hossain had told journalists outside the hospital that her condition was 'extremely critical'.

For much of the past three decades, Zia alternated as Bangladesh’s highest elected official with Sheikh Hasina, who was last year ousted from Bangladesh's top chair after a student-led uprising and forced to flee the nation.

Despite the court cases being dropped and freed of house arrest, Zia was bed-ridden and had celebrated Hasina’s downfall as “the end of tyranny.”

(With PTI inputs)