Durban fraud convict Schabir Shaik was on Monday admitted to the city’s Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital suffering from hypertension and depression.
A KwaZulu-Natal health official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Department of Correctional Services had “requested us to manage their patient who is suffering from hypertension and depression”.
In a written statement, the provincial department of health said Shaik was admitted for observation after he was treated at the hospital’s outpatient facility.
“This follows a recommendation from cardiologists in Cape Town that were sent by Discovery Health suggesting that this patient be monitored in an academic institution where he can be closely monitored,” the department said.
It did not divulge any further details, saying patients have the right to have their medical details treated with confidentiality.
Shaik was first admitted to hospital in November last year, not long after he had started his prison sentence at the Qalakabusha Prison in Empangeni for fraud. He was reported to have been treated for depression, high blood pressure and transient ischemic attacks (small strokes). He was also reported to have undergone an angiogram and maxio-facial surgery to remove abscesses from his gums.
By January this year, experts predicted that the cost of Shaik’s extended hospital stay was nearing R500 000. On February 15, Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour ordered that Shaik be removed from St Augustine’s Hospital in Durban and sent to Westville Prison.
Balfour said he made the decision, effective immediately, after viewing the reports of two private practitioners and a third medical report by a doctor of the department.
On Monday, Shaik’s brother Mo Shaik declined to comment, saying that he was in a meeting, and referred all queries about his brother to the Correctional Services Department.
Departmental spokesperson Manelisi Wolela did not answer his calls or respond to a message left for him.