Mandela ‘quite ill’ but not on life support at home
Print Edition
Nelson Mandela remains “quite ill” and is unable to speak, using facial expressions to communicate as he receives intensive medical care at home, his former wife told a Sunday newspaper.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela said the 95-year-old former president of South Africa was not on life support, but he was no longer talking “because of all the tubes that are in his mouth to clear the lungs” and prevent infection returning.
“He can’t actually articulate anything” as a result, she told The Sunday Independent. “He communicates with the face, you see. But the doctors have told us they hope to recover his voice,”
“I have heard this nonsense that he is on life support. He is not,” she said.
Mandela was discharged in a critical condition on September 1 to his home in Johannesburg after nearly three months in hospital with a lung infection.
The anti-apartheid hero is under the care of 22 doctors, and while his pneumonia has cleared, his lungs remain sensitive, Madikizela-Mandela said, adding that it was “difficult for him.”
“He remains very sensitive to any germs, so he has to be kept literally sterile. The bedroom there is like an ICU ward,” she said. “He remains quite ill, but thank God the doctors were able to pull him through from that (last) infection.”
“When he is very relaxed, he is fine and it has given us a lot of hope,” she said.
Mandela, who spent 27 years in jail before he became the nation’s first black president, has faced several health scares. His recent 86-day hospital stay was his longest since he was free from jail in 1990.
A globally admired figure, Mandela’s health problems prompt outpourings of get well wishes around the world.
These are particularly pronounced at home where he remains a symbol of unity, despite having been out of the public eye for several years.
Mandela served one term as president after he became the nation’s first leader elected in all-race polls in 1994.
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