Convicted businessman Schabir Shaik is undergoing tests at a Durban hospital to determine the extent of organ damage, if any, caused by persistent problems with high blood pressure, his brother said on Friday.

Mo Shaik said: "He is undergoing tests in terms of organ damage. It's a case of seeing what there is and what to do about it."

Shaik was admitted to Durban's Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.

Correctional Services spokesman Manelisi Wolela said: "We can confirm that he is in hospital, but we do not, as a matter of principal, discuss the condition of the offender."

Mo Shaik confirmed that he was appealing to the department to consider other ways of punishing his brother.

"It must of course all happen within the terms of the law. Maybe there is the possibility of correctional supervision."

Provincial health spokesman Leon Mbangwa said he could not immediately comment on the matter.

With acknowledgements to Sapa.