Saima Wazed Putul Resigns as WHO Regional Director

Saima Wazed Putul. Photo: WHO

Saima Wazed Putul, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Southeast Asia regional director and daughter of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, resigned on Wednesday amid fraud investigations by the UN agency and Bangladeshi authorities.

Putul took office as WHO’s Southeast Asia regional director in early 2024 for a five-year term. The WHO placed her on unpaid administrative leave late last year after Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), under the interim government that replaced Hasina, filed charges against her in March 2025 alleging fraud and forgery.

The WHO had initially placed Putul on leave in July 2025.

According to a letter from her lawyers to the WHO dated July 3, 2026, the agency accused Putul of committing financial fraud related to travel to China and of misrepresenting her academic credentials. Putul has denied the allegations.

The WHO also alleged that she had illegally acquired a plot of land in Bangladesh, according to Putul’s resignation letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Putul said she acquired the land before joining the WHO and was entitled to it under a Bangladeshi law covering the families of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s independence leader and Hasina’s father.

‘Loss of trust’

“I was elected to the position of Regional Director in order to serve the countries in my region, which I had sincerely done,” Putul said in her resignation letter to Tedros, sent late Wednesday.

“Since you continue to prevent me from effectively carrying out my duties, I have lost all trust and confidence in your leadership of WHO,” she wrote.

She also said that nearly a year without remuneration following her placement on unpaid leave had made her financial situation untenable.

“In these circumstances, I am choosing to step aside,” she wrote.

Putul declined to comment further.

The WHO did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Last month, the agency said Putul remained on leave but declined to provide further details, citing confidentiality.

Fresh election expected

Two sources said the WHO had been planning to formally remove Putul from the position.

One source said the agency was expected to announce nominations for the post on October 12, vet applications in December and hold an election on January 24.

Regional directors are among the WHO’s most influential health policy officials, overseeing responses to disease outbreaks and emergencies and adapting WHO policies to regional conditions.

They are elected every five years by member states of the region, including Bangladesh and India.

In the July letter, Putul’s lawyers denied the travel-fraud allegation, saying an assistant had made an administrative error while processing routine reimbursement requests involving $901.

Regarding the credentials allegation, Putul said she held an honorary doctorate for her work on autism in Bangladesh and had been transparent with Tedros about the qualification.