/ 3 April 2007

Manto recovering ‘as expected’

Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s is recovering well three weeks after her liver transplant, her doctor said on Tuesday.

”Things are progressing as expected … We don’t anticipate that there are going to be problems,” said Professor Jeff Wing, the minister’s physician for the past four years.

Tshabalala-Msimang underwent a liver transplant at the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre on March 14.

She was later moved to Johannesburg hospital to recuperate.

Wing said because she was elderly — she is 66 — she would take longer to heal but she was progressing as expected.

He said it was not known when the minister would be discharged from hospital.

Transport Minister Jeff Radebe was appointed acting health minister in late February following Tshabalala-Msimang’s readmission to Johannesburg hospital on February 20.

Professor Ernie Song told a press conference on March 16 that Tshabalala-Msimang suffered from cirrhosis, or extensive scarring and damage to the liver.

She was also hospitalised for a lung ailment last year. — Sapa