hospital – Page 3

Mandela in intensive care: Mac Maharaj

mandela_journalists — Journalists waiting for news during a previous Mandela hospitalisation

Former president Nelson Mandela is receiving intensive care at a Pretoria hospital, presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj said on Monday.

“Today the doctors are saying his condition is unchanged,” he told reporters from his office at the Union Buildings.

“He is under expert attention and they [doctors] are doing everything to keep him comfortable.”

Maharaj said a report in The Star suggesting the Mandela family had barred the ANC and government from visiting Madiba were unfortunate.

“There is no substance to that. It’s very unfortunate that one particular newspaper chose to run with that as a headline. I’ve read that report and it has no single source it attributes to, except three unnamed sources.

“There are restrictions which arise from the fact that Madiba is under intensive care. Those are medical restrictions to control movement of people [to exclude the] possibility of visitors bringing infection into the environment,” said Maharaj.

The Star newspaper reported that the Mandela family had taken charge of the 94-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner’s hospital stay, banning everyone, including government leaders and senior party officials, from visiting him.

The African National Congress on Monday said it was unaware of this.

Maharaj said President Jacob Zuma was scheduled to visit Mandela in hospital, but did not say when.

“His [Zuma’s] focus now is to allow the medical team every opportunity to concentrate on their job. To allow the closest relatives to go there and be close to him. As head of state, president Zuma will visit at the appropriate time. We just want Madiba to get better.”

ANC MP and Mandela’s ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, had been at the hospital.

Maharaj said the 48 hours between Saturday to Monday, when there was no update on Mandela’s health, was caused by the lack of progress on the elder statesman’s health.

“You would not want a repetition of the same thing over and over. I know you want him to get better, but we can’t give you good news if it’s false. We can’t give you bad news when it’s not true.

Local and international journalists spent the day outside the two entrances to the Pretoria hospital where Mandela was believed to be. Security guards had been posted at the entrances.

More than 10 broadcast vans were there. Some journalists had erected small tents and others had generators. Passers-by stopped to ask about Mandela. – Sapa

Time ‘to let Mandela go’

South Africa prayed for Nelson Mandela on Sunday as the revered peace icon spent a second day in hospital, with calls for the family and the nation to “let him go”.

Government officials have given no update on his health since announcing that the frail 94-year-old was taken to a Pretoria hospital early Saturday in a “serious but stable” condition suffering from a lung infection.

South Africans are beginning to come to terms with the mortality of their first black president and father of the “Rainbow Nation”, following a string of health scares in recent months.

The Sunday Times newspaper carried a front-page picture of the beloved elder statesman smiling and waving under the headline: “It’s time to let him go”.

It is the fourth hospital stay since December for the Nobel peace prize laureate, who turns 95 next month, after he was discharged in April following treatment for pneumonia.

Although the government has not identified the hospital treating Mandela, family members were seen leaving a heart clinic in Pretoria where a large media camp is gathered.

“We wish Madiba a speedy recovery, but I think what is important is that his family must release him,” Mandela’s long-time friend Andrew Mlangeni, 87, told the Sunday Times, using his clan name.

“Once the family releases him, the people of South Africa will follow. We will say thank you, God, you have given us this man, and we will release him too,” said the former apartheid era prisoner, who was jailed for life alongside Mandela in 1964.

Mandela is revered as a global symbol of forgiveness following his release from 27 years in prison during white minority rule and his latest hospitalisation has triggered outpourings of concern across the globe.

He has not been seen in public since the World Cup final in July 2010.

Song filled the morning air at the Regina Mundi church in Soweto, a key flashpoint in the anti-apartheid struggle, as worshippers prayed for their hero.

“I mean Tata is 94. At 94 what do you expect?” said churchgoer Sannie Shezi, 36, using an affectionate term meaning father.

“He lived his life, he worked for us. All we can say is God help him. If things happen they will happen, but we still love him.”

Mandela’s third wife Graca Machel has been at his hospital bedside after calling off a trip to London where she had been due to attend a global conference on hunger.

While Twitter users expressed sadness over Mandela’s latest illness and urged a quick recovery, they were also prepared for the worst.

“Madiba has served us well , a real blessing a definition of a leader but it’s time to let him Go. We can’t hold on forever,” said one tweet.

While the official description of his health as serious was unusually sombre, presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj told AFP on Saturday that Mandela was breathing on his own.

“The truth of the matter is a simple one. Madiba is a fighter and at his age as long as he is fighting, he’ll be fine,” he said.

— ‘Legend in our country’ —

South Africa’s one-day cricket captain AB de Villiers joined world figures including Prime Minister David Cameron and the White House in sending best wishes for Mandela.

“He’s a legend in our country,” he said on a tour in England, voicing hope that Mandela would recover soon and “maybe even get that big 100 when it comes to birthdays”.

Mandela was being treated at at his Johannesburg home when his condition worsened and he was taken to hospital in Pretoria at 1.30am Saturday.

He was diagnosed with early-stage tuberculosis in 1988 and also has had treatment for prostate cancer and suffered stomach ailments.

In December, Mandela spent 18 days in hospital, his longest as a free man.

In March he was admitted for an overnight scheduled check-up before returning later that month for 10 days.

In March, Zuma appeared to prepare the nation for Mandela’s passing, saying: “In Zulu, when someone passes away who is very old, people say he or she has gone home. I think those are some of the things we should be thinking about.”

Controversial television footage in April showed a frail, distant and unsmiling Mandela being visited at home by ANC leaders, sparking accusations that his party was exploiting him.

The ruling African National Congress — facing elections next year — has lost much of its Mandela shine amid widespread corruption, poverty and poor public services.

After serving just one term as president, Mandela turned his energy to AIDS and conflict resolution, before stepping out of the public eye a decade ago at the age of 85. – AFP

South African youth praying for Mandela

Young South Africans were wishing former President Nelson Mandela well outside a Pretoria hospital on Saturday morning.

“Tata get better. We are going to pray for you,” Gail Prosperity, 22, said.

She said she only found out Mandela was in hospital after she saw the large media contingency outside the hospital.

“Honestly I don’t want to lie to you it really touched me… My spirit is going down.

“This thing for Madiba is inside of us.”

Prosperity said she wanted him to get well soon as he gave South Africa freedom.

Runs Mabuza, 31, who lives opposite the hospital said he was feeling bad about Mandela’s hospitalisation.

“He’s sick and then he is old. The country loves him,” he said.

“I wish him the best and that he must recover quickly.”

Large groups of local and international media were stationed outside the hospital on Saturday after the presidency announced Mandela was admitted in a “serious but stable” condition.

Photographers and journalists were monitoring cars entering and exiting the hospital.

There was no security apart from a normal hospital guard stationed outside the building.

Early on Saturday morning presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj said Mandela was admitted due to a recurring lung infection.

“This morning at about 1.30am his condition deteriorated and he was transferred to a Pretoria hospital,” Maharaj said in a statement.

“He remains in a serious but stable condition.”

Maharaj said doctors were doing everything they could to make Mandela “better and comfortable”.

“President Jacob Zuma, on behalf of government and the nation, wishes Madiba a speedy recovery and requests the media and the public to respect the privacy of Madiba and his family,” Maharaj said.

On April 6, Mandela was discharged from hospital after spending nine days receiving treatment for recurring lung problems. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has suffered lung ailments before.

Early in March, he was admitted to a Pretoria hospital for a scheduled check-up and was discharged the following day.

In December last year, Mandela underwent an operation to remove gallstones and treat the recurring lung infection. He was discharged after an 18-day stay and placed under home-based high care at his Houghton home.

In January, the presidency said Mandela had made a full recovery from the surgery and continued to improve. In February last year he was admitted to hospital for a stomach ailment.

At the time, the presidency said Mandela underwent a diagnostic procedure to investigate the cause of a long-standing abdominal complaint.

In January 2011, Mandela was taken to Milpark Hospital for routine tests relating to respiratory problems.

Mandela’s last major public appearance was in July 2010, at the final of the Fifa World Cup at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg.

Since then he had spent his time between Johannesburg and his ancestral village of Qunu in the Eastern Cape. – Sapa

Nelson Mandela in ‘serious condition’ in Pretoria hospital

Former South African president Nelson Mandela was in a “serious but stable” condition after being taken to hospital early on Saturday with a recurring lung infection, the government said in a statement.

The 94-year-old anti-apartheid hero and the country’s first black president has been in hospital three times since December and has been battling this bout of the infection for several days, it said.

“This morning at about 1:30 a.m. (7.30 p.m. EDT On Friday) his condition deteriorated and he was transferred to a Pretoria hospital. He remains in a serious but stable condition,” the government said.

Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj told local television Mandela’s condition was “serious this time”.

“The situation is serious this time but doctors have assured us he is comfortable,” he told television station eNCA.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate stepped down as president in 1999 and has not been politically active for about a decade. – Reuters

Corrie Sanders medical affair being investigated

Claims are being probed that boxer Corrie Sanders was turned away from the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria after being shot, a health official said on Tuesday.

“Kalafong and Dr George Mukhari Hospitals are the referral hospitals for patients from the North West province because of their proximity to that province,” Gauteng health spokesman Simon Zwane said.

“There is however no policy allowing patients in emergency situation to be turned away.”

The 46-year-old Sanders was at the Thatch Haven Country Lodge, in Brits, on Saturday celebrating his nephew’s 21st birthday when armed men arrived and randomly fired shots.

Sanders, who was shot in the hand and stomach, died at the Kalafong hospital on Sunday.

The Democratic Alliance said he was refused treatment at Steve Biko hospital, according to the Sanders family.

“It is possible that his life could have been saved if he was treated at the specialist facilities at Steve Biko, rather than the lower-level Kalafong Hospital which has a poor reputation,” MPL Jack Bloom said in a statement.

Zwane said the department believed Sanders was given appropriate treatment at Kalafong Hospital.

The DA was calling for a inquiry into the matter.

Bloom said sources had told him that North West ambulances were regularly turned away from the hospital.

“People often lie that they have been injured in Gauteng in order to get admitted there,” he said.

The Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) on Tuesday reminded health care practitioners that they were obliged during emergency situations to stabilise patients.

“Section 27 of the Constitution, the National Health Act, as well as the HPCSA’s ethical guidelines clearly states that a health care provider may not refuse a person emergency medical treatment,” CEO Dr Buyiswa Mjamba-Matshoba said in a statement.

“The council therefore wishes to remind all health care practitioners of this ethical responsibility.”

Mediclinic on Tuesday said Sanders was never brought to one of its hospitals.

“Many mistakenly believe that Mr Sanders was taken to a Mediclinic Hospital and refused access,” the hospital group said in a statement.

“We would like to state categorically that he was not taken to Mediclinic Brits or any other Mediclinic hospital.”

Sanders, who was nicknamed ‘The Sniper’ in his fighting days, was one of South Africa’s most successful boxers on the global stage.

He won the WBO title and held his own against some of the most respected boxers in the world.

The heavyweight southpaw, who was trained by Harold Volbrecht, fought 46 times in his career, losing only four bouts. – Sapa