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Diarrhoea hits Shaik jail
16/11/2006 16:58 - (SA)
Johannesburg - An outbreak of diarrhoea has hit over 900 prisoners at the prison where Schabir Shaik is being held, the department of correctional services says. Cholera has been ruled out as the cause of the outbreak at the overcrowded Qalakabusha Correctional Centre in KwaZulu-Natal.
The problems started on Wednesday, when offenders started complaining of stomach pains, said spokesperson Manelisi Wolela.
"The doctors are saying that the symptoms indicate it's not cholera."
Ten doctors and more than 40 nurses were sent to the prison by the departments of health and correctional services and seriously affected prisoners were treated at the prison hospital.
To deal with the outbreak, a makeshift hospital had been set up in an adjacent church on the grounds, Wolela said. Blood tests Prisoners who only had stomach cramps were treated in their cells.
"Officials working on the scene have described the scenario as stable as the hospital has begun to discharge some affected offenders who have recovered."
The results of blood, water and food samples taken for forensic investigation were expected within four days.
Wolela hesitated to speculate on the cause of the outbreak, but said it could be food poisoning.
He would not discuss whether Shaik had been affected by the outbreak.
"Why would we focus on one or two offenders and how they are treated?" he asked. Overcrowding
Shaik, the former financial adviser of ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma, was moved to Qalakabusha, in Empangeni, last week from Durban's Westville Prison due to a chronic medical condition.
Judge Nathan Erasmus of the judicial inspectorate of prisons told reporters in Durban on Thursday that the Empangeni prison suffered from severe overcrowding.
Built to accommodate 1 352 inmates, at the close of business on Wednesday it contained 2 374 inmates - 75% more than it should have.
- SAPA
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