Tarique Rahman drives Khaleda Zia to hospital from airport

Tarique Rahman has driven his mother Khaleda Zia to a hospital in central London, immediately after her flight landed at the Heathrow airport. 

He started from the airport at 10:15 am (local time) and reached the hospital around 11:00 am, accompanied by his wife Zubaida Rahman. 

Khaleda Zia will receive advanced treatment there as she has long been suffering from various health complications, including liver cirrhosis, kidney and heart-related ailment, diabetes, and arthritis.  

Earlier, a special air ambulance with former prime minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and a medical team on board landed at the airport  around 9:05 am. 

Her elder son Tarique, acting chairman of the BNP, along with his wife, welcomed her at the airport, while  the acting high-commissioner of Bangladesh in the UK, Hazrat Ali Khan, received her with a flower bucket. 

The BNP chief last visited London on 15 July 2017. Since then, she has not met her son who has been in exile in the UK as she was not allowed to depart the country.

To welcome her in London, a large number of BNP leaders and activists, including BNP’s UK wing president MA Khalek and its general secretary Kaisar M Ahmad, gathered at the airport. 

She is supposed to leave the airport through the royal VVIP gate of the airport, upon completion of immigration formalities. 

Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani provided the special air ambulance from the royal fleet after learning about the illness of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia. Four doctors and paramedics from Qatar and six members of Khaleda Zia's medical board from Dhaka accompanied her in the air ambulance.