Letters Correspondent

In the short time since it opened, the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Academic Hospital has acquired an enviable reputation as a world centre of excellence in all medical disciplines.

As a private practising physician my only grouch is that admissions are only allowed on referral from consultants at provincial hospitals. Which raises the question of who referred Schabir Shaik?

I do not know the other practitioners involved in his prolonged stay but I write in defence of my friend and esteemed colleague Professor. D P ("Wysie") Naidoo, a brilliant physician and an honourable man, who had thrust upon him an unwarranted and purely political situation.

As a practising doctor for over 50 years I have treated about 10 000 patients with hypertension, many with a resistant or refractory form of the disease, and have never had occasion to admit one, as the disorder is easily managed in an outpatient setting provided the patient is co-operative, takes the prescribed medication, loses weight, stops smoking, reduces alcohol and fat intake and does nothing to sabotage his own health.

I have little doubt the reason for Shaik's repeated and lengthy admissions, the disregarding of Prof Naidoo's discharge in November and the delay of four months until his recent "medical parole" is an extension of the pact made between Shaik and Zuma many years ago ("you pay me and I will look after you"), which was the basis of Shaik's trial, and the final decision to parole him were to ensure he was out before Zuma became president.

Whether Mr Shaik co-operated with his physicians, I suspect the truth will emerge. But, to place Prof Naidoo and his colleagues in a situation where their hard-earned positions and livelihood are at stake is a travesty.

Dr L I Robertson
Parklands Medical Centre
Overport