Major General Susane Giti being adorned with the rank by Chief of Army Staff Gen Aziz Ahmed and Quartermaster General Lt Gen Shamsul Haque at the Army Headquarters in Dhaka on Sunday, September 30, 2018 ISPR

Dr Susane Giti had joined the Army Medical Corp as a captain in 1986

Army Medical Corp’s Dr Susane Giti has become the first woman in the country’s history to become a two-star general in Bangladesh Army.

She was adorned with the major general’s badge by Chief of Army Staff Gen Aziz Ahmed and Quartermaster General Lt Gen Md Shamsul Haque at the Army Headquarters in Dhaka on Sunday, according to a media statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Directorate.

Other senior military officials were also present at the function.

With her promotion, which the ISPR dubbed a new era in Bangladesh Army, haematology specialist Maj Gen Giti will take over the command of Armed Forces Institute of Pathology as its commandant.

A 1985 Rajshahi Medical College graduate, Dr Giti joined the Army Medical Corp as a captain in 1986.

In 1996, she became the first woman to receive an FCPS degree in haematology, according to the ISPR.

Maj Gen Giti, who currently heads the pathology department at the Armed Forces Medical College, has also served as a pathology specialist in various UN peacekeeping missions and military hospitals, it said.

Her husband Brig Gen (retd) Asadullah Md Hossain Saad was also a successful army doctor.

Dr Giti’s promotion was a step further in Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s attempt to attain gender equality, read the ISPR statement.