Mandela’s Condition Still Critical As He Undergoes Minor Surgery

Former South African president, Nelson Mandela has undergone a minor operation.

The anti-apartheid hero underwent a “surgical procedure to unblock a dialysis tube” on Friday just before marking his seventh week at a Pretoria health facility where he has been since suffering relapse of a lung condition, according to US news network CBS.

The operation was “minor”, the network reported. But presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj would not confirm that the procedure took place.

The presidency said Sunday that Nelson Mandela was still critically ill in hospital but improving slightly.

“He is critical, stable, but there is some improvement,” he told AFP.

Earlier reports said the 95-year-old Nobel peace laureate was breathing with the aid of a ventilator and had undergone dialysis.

CBS also reported two scares on Mandela’s condition in the past week.

“On one occasion Nelson Mandela was not responding to his meds (medicines), and on another his life support machine showed him in distress,” according to CBS.

The presidential spokesman, Maharaj however said he was not aware of any recent scares.

There was no further information over Mandela’s possible discharge, which family members alluded to on his 95th birthday two weeks ago.

Mandela’s current hospital stay is his longest since his release from prison in 1990, after serving 27 years under the apartheid regime.

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