People from all walks of life are paying tributes to veteran freedom fighter and Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury at the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital.
After his body had been kept at the Central Shaheed Minar, people started paying their last respects to the liberation war hero at 10:27 and it will continue till 1pm.
He will also be given guard of honour there.
Later, his first namaz-e-janaza will be held at Suhrawardy Udyan at 2:30pm today. The body will be taken to Gonoshasthaya Kendra in Savar tomorrow where his second namaz-e-janaza will be held.
Gonoshasthaya Kendra Trustee Board and family members are yet to take decision on whether the body will be buried or donated for facilitating medical research.
Dr Zafrullah, one of the founders of Bangladesh Field Hospital set up in Agartala to treat the injured freedom fighters during the War of Liberation in 1971, passed away at Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital in Dhanmondi on Tuesday night.
Born on December 27 in 1941 at Chattogram’s Raozan, Zafrullah Chowdhury got admitted to Dhaka Medical College after passing matriculation from Nabakumar School in Bakshibazar and intermediate from Dhaka College.
While studying there, Zafrullah Chowdhury was elected general secretary of the students’ council of the college. During that time he raised voice against ‘corruption and mismanagement’ of the college through a press conference.
Following completion of his MBBS course in 1964, he travelled to the UK to pursue higher studies.
Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury got numerous national and international awards, including Independence Award in 1977 and the Ramon Magsaysay Award, known as the Nobel award of Asia, in 1985.
Later in 1990, he received an honorary FCGP from the College of General Practitioners. In 1992, he got the Right Livelihood Award from Sweden. The University of California, Berkeley honoured him with the International Health Hero Award in 2002.
In May 2009, he was awarded a Doctor of Humanitarian Service by the World Organisation of Natural Medicine of Canada.
BDST: 1135 HRS, APR 13, 2023
SMS
