Nasim Burial at Banani Graveyard on Sunday

Former health minister Mohammed Nasim will be laid to eternal rest at Banani graveyard in Dhaka on Sunday.

Awami League Office Secretary Biplab Barua confirmed the matter.

Earlier Nasim, who had been on life support after suffering a stroke, passed away at the Bangladesh Specialised Hospital in Shyamoli on Saturday morning at the age of 72.

He leaves behind his wife and three children.

Nasim was hospitalized with a fever on Jun 1 and later tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

With underlying health conditions, he had undergone brain surgery after suffering a stroke during treatment.

Nasim was put in intensive care and later on life support, doctors said. Although he later tested negative for COVID-19, his condition showed no signs of improvement over the following days.

Nasim had initially tested negative for the coronavirus but his wife and a house help had been confirmed to have caught COVID-19.

But as his fever, cough and other health conditions began to worsen, the family got him admitted to the hospital on Jun 1 and a second test confirmed he had contracted the virus.

Nasim is the son of M Mansur Ali, one of the four national leaders slain inside Dhaka Central Jail in 1975 after the assassination of founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Nasim became the post and telecommunication minister when the Awami League returned to power in 1996. Hasina gave her the charge of housing and public works ministry as well the next year.

After handling both ministries until March 1999, he became the home minister.

Hasina did not keep him in her cabinet after sweeping the 2008 elections, but made him health minister in the next term after the 2014 polls.

A presidium member of the ruling party, Nasim has been working as the coordinator of the 14-Party Coalition led by the Awami League.

Born to Mansur Ali and Amena Mansur in Sirajganj’s Kazipur on Apr 2, 1948, Nasim represented the Sirajganj constituency for the fifth term.

Nasim became active in politics after the killing of his father.

The first election Nasim won was in 1986 when he was the publicity secretary of the party. He served as the opposition chief whip at the time. He was elected MP in 1996, 2001, 2014 and 2018.

He has also founded a number of educational institutions in Dhaka and Sirajganj.