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Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela was hospitalised on 8 December with a lung infection and also had gallstone surgery. Photograph: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty Images
Nelson Mandela was hospitalised on 8 December with a lung infection and also had gallstone surgery. Photograph: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty Images

Nelson Mandela expected to remain in hospital for Christmas

This article is more than 11 years old
South African media outlets report that doctors have given no indication the former president is ready to return home

Nelson Mandela will probably spend Christmas Day in hospital because doctors want to be satisfied his health has improved sufficiently before sending him home, it was reported on Sunday.

Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said physicians caring for the former South African leader had given no indication of an "imminent discharge" from the hospital in which he is staying in Pretoria, the capital, according to IOL, a South African news website.

"At this stage there is no update on his condition and his doctors have given no indication" about when Mandela could be discharged, IOL quoted Maharaj as saying on Saturday.

Mandela was hospitalised on 8 December. He was diagnosed with a lung infection and also had gallstone surgery. Officials have said his condition had improved and that he was responding to treatment. President Jacob Zuma acknowledged several days ago that Mandela's condition had been serious.

"They [the doctors] say there is no crisis, but add that they are in no hurry to send him home just yet until they are satisfied that he has made sufficient progress," Maharaj said, according to IOL.

"We urge the public to continue supporting Madiba," he said, using Mandela's clan name. Maharaj appealed for people to "understand that he is 94 years old and needs extraordinary care".

The South African Sunday Times also said Mandela was likely to spend Christmas in hospital care but did not cite a source. The newspaper quoted Maharaj as saying that rumours of a rapid deterioration in Mandela's health were "completely false and baseless".

Archbishop Desmond Tutu said he was praying for Mandela's swift recovery. Radio 702, a South African station, broadcast on Sunday an interview with Tutu in which he said he exchanged telephone text messages about Mandela with the anti-apartheid leader's wife, Graca Machel.

Tutu and Mandela were made Nobel laureates in recognition of their role in the struggle against white rule in South Africa. Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years and served one five-year term as president after he was elected in South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994.

More on this story

More on this story

  • Nelson Mandela looking much better, says Jacob Zuma after Christmas visit

  • ANC attempts to regroup as Nelson Mandela recovers in hospital

  • Nelson Mandela's gallstones removed in successful operation

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