Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has cancelled her scheduled trips to the UK and Italy on November 16-20 due to ailments.
“She is indisposed. She visited the Combined Military Hospital, Dhaka for a check-up today [Thursday],” a highly placed source at the Prime Minister’s Office told The Daily Star.
The PM, he added, has been suffering from cold and fever and advised complete rest.
Diplomatic sources said Hasina was scheduled to visit the UK from November 16 to deliver a speech on “Girls Education” in Oxford Union on November 17.
The president of Oxford Union, a debating society in the city of Oxford, England, had invited the PM to the event.
From London, she was due to fly to Rome, Italy on November 18 to attend the Second International Conference on Nutrition, an inclusive inter-governmental meeting on nutrition jointly organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization.
PMO sources said Hasina’s back-to-back visits to the UK and Italy might further upset her health as severe cold weather is prevailing in Europe.
As the 18th Saarc Summit is slated for November 26-27 in Kathmandu, the PM’s advisers and physicians have suggested that she should take rest for complete recovery from illness so that she could attend the summit.
The presence of heads of state or government of the Saarc member countries is mandatory for holding the summit. The PM is scheduled to fly to Nepal on November 24.