Ailing Mandela Has "Made Progress"

Anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela is making progress and doctors are happy with his response to treatment for a lung infection, the South African government said Wednesday.

Published

about 6 years ago

Categories

World

Topics

Africa

People

Nelson Mandela, Mac Maharaj

Places

South Africa, Johannesburg

Transcript

SHOTLIST: DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA, December 12, 2012 SOURCE: AFPTV - VAR cuteways of Mac Maharaj looking at a picture of Nelson Mandela and him SOUNDBITE 1 Mac Maharaj (man), Spokesperson for the South Africa presidency (English, 18 sec): "At 2 o’clock today, South African time, the presidency would like to advise the public that the doctors attending to former president Nelson Mandela report that he has made progress in the last 24 hours and that he is responding to the treatment." - VAR Mandela voting in last presidential elections (April 2009, Source: AFPTV) - VAR cuteways of Mac Maharaj looking at a picture of Nelson Mandela and him - Images of Mandela at an ANC Meeting (April 2009, Source: AFPTV) - Images of Mandela at an ANC Meeting (April 2009, Source: AFPTV) SOUNDBITE 2 Mac Maharaj (man), Spokesperson for the South Africa presidency (English, 24 sec): "He is responding, I can’t say to what degree, let us bear in mind he is 94 years of age and one has to be extra careful when we are dealing with respiratory problems at that age. So there is cause for concern but clearly there is progress. There is no cause for alarm but there is cause for us to keep thinking of him in our hearts." - VAR cuteways of Mac Maharaj looking at a picture of Nelson Mandela and him ----------------------------------------------------- AFP TEXT STORY: SAfrica-health-Mandela,3rdlead Ailing Mandela has 'made progress' by Andrew Beatty =(GRAPHIC+PICTURE+VIDEO)= ATTENTION - ADDS presidency spokesman's comments /// JOHANNESBURG, Dec 12, 2012 (AFP) - Anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela is making progress and doctors are happy with his response to treatment for a lung infection, the South African government said Wednesday. "Doctors attending to former president Mandela have reported that he has made progress during the past 24 hours and they are satisfied with the way he is responding to treatment," a statement said. The 94-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner is spending a fifth day in a military hospital for a recurrent lung infection, a common condition among the elderly, but one which experts warn can turn serious. "There is cause for concern, but clearly there is progress," presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj told AFP. "He is responding, I can't say to what degree, let us bear in mind he is 94 years of age and one has to be extra careful when we are dealing with respiratory problems at that age." Maharaj said Mandela's doctors would decide when he would be released from hospital. "It is not possible to say. It's in the hands of the doctors." "There is a team of medical people attending to him and I know that all of us would want the team to err on the side of caution rather than act prematurely." "We want our Madiba to be better, we want him out of hospital but we want him out better," he said, using Mandela's clan name. The former president who led South Africa to democracy in 1994 has a long history of lung problems dating back decades when he contracted tuberculosis while in prison. He was previously hospitalised for an acute respiratory infection in January 2011, when he was kept as an inpatient for two nights. He was released in a stable condition for home-based care and intense medical monitoring. In 1988, while serving his 27-year prison term, Mandela was diagnosed with early stage TB after being admitted to a hospital with a bad cough and weakness and having complained of dampness in his cell. At the time, two litres of fluid were drained from his chest and he spent six weeks recuperating in the hospital before being transferred to a private clinic near his mainland Cape Town prison. He was the facility's first black patient. His latest health scare became public on Saturday, when Mandela was flown from his rural home village of Qunu to a military hospital where he had to undergo tests which the authorities said were common for people of his age. On Tuesday officials said the tests had revealed the nonagenarian had a lung infection. Medical experts say chest infections are a cause for concern in older people because it gets more difficult to clear out secretions the less mobile they become. Maharaj said that for people with a history of weak lungs, there is "susceptibility to infection, but there's also a history of successful treatment". Over a decade after he left office, the tall grey-haired Mandela retains a prominent place in the national psyche, and his health has become a subject of global obsession as he has aged. sn-arb/txw