/ 20 December 2006

Shaik undergoes surgery after ‘swelling in the heart’

Fraud convict Schabir Shaik underwent explorative surgery in a Durban hospital on Monday.

Shaik’s brother Mo Shaik confirmed that Schabir had undergone an angiogram at St Augustine’s hospital.

Mo Shaik said the procedure was performed after his brother’s physicians had become concerned at ”swelling in the heart”. There was concern that his brother had a clogged or partially blocked artery.

He said he had not seen the physicians report following the angiogram and the family would know later in the evening.

Shaik was admitted to Durban’s St Augustine’s Hospital at the end of November. There were reports that he had suffered a mild stroke. Mo Shaik said on Monday that his brother was ”still under medication and high blood pressure is fluctuating all the time”.

Shaik was convicted on two counts of corruption and one count of fraud.

He is currently serving a 15 year sentence, but has so far spent most of his sentence at St Augustine’s Hospital.

A cardiac angiogram involves inserting a catheter into an artery or vein near the elbow or the groin and then guiding it into one of the blood vessels or chambers of the heart. – Sapa