Post date: Dec 26, 2012 9:0:39 PM
Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela has been discharged from hospital, the government says on Wednesday.
PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA (DECEMBER 25, 2012) (REUTERS) - Former South African President Nelson Mandela has been discharged from hospital, ending a nearly three-week stay during which he was treated for a lung infection and had surgery to remove gallstones, the government said on Wednesday (December 26).
The 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been moved to his Johannesburg home. He has been in frail health for several years."He will undergo home-based high care at his ... home until he recovers fully," the government said in a statement issued by the presidency.
"We request a continuation of the privacy consideration in order to allow for the best possible conditions for full recovery," it said, without offering further details.
Mandela has a history of lung problems dating back to when he contracted tuberculosis while in jail as a political prisoner. He spent 27 years in prison, including 18 years on the windswept Robben Island off Cape Town.
The former president was admitted to a Pretoria hospital on Dec. 8 and this was his longest stay in hospital since he was released from prison in 1990.
His poor health has prevented him from making any public appearances in the past two years, although he has continued to receive high-profile visitors, including former U.S. President Bill Clinton earlier this year.