A psychiatrist who believed Schabir Shaik was suicidal, a former nurse turned GP and a consultant cardiologist are the three doctors whose "collective submission" helped free Schabir Shaik on medical parole.
The Star can disclose after a two-week investigation that the Durban-Westville Parole Board held meetings with Professor AE Gangat and Dr Ngenisile Mbanjwa on February 26, and with Dr Sajidah Khan on March 1.
Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, one of Africa's most prestigious hospitals. Unlike other Durban hospitals, it's situated in a park-like landscape, with no dense population close up. On the premises are in addition to the hospital, car parking, houses and apartment buildings for medical staff, 2 tennis courts, a pool, and a common braai (=barbeque) area.
The doctors recommended parole on medical grounds, according to a parole board report. At least 14 medical practitioners are understood to have treated or diagnosed Shaik since he was jailed for corruption and fraud in November, 2006, but Gangat, Mbanjwa and Khan were those involved in the last interaction with the board.
The Health Professions Council of SA is investigating whether a host of Shaik doctors should face charges of professional misconduct.
A legal report has already been submitted to a committee of preliminary inquiry, which is scheduled to meet next week.
It will decide whether there is prima facie evidence to warrant a formal inquiry against any of those involved. Any finding of misconduct could form the basis for Correctional Services boss Ngconde Balfour to send the Shaik parole decision for review by Judge Siraj Desai's parole review board.
The Star confirmed that the board that granted Shaik's medical parole comprised its vice-chairman, BD Tshabangu, and its secretary, S Tshaka - both of Correctional Services. It also includes two community members, identified as RV Ntombela and TE Mbambo.
Having studied the medical reports and held meetings with the three doctors, they also visited Shaik at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital on March 2.
Later that day they granted medical parole.
Gangat is the Durban psychiatrist who in February, 2007, warned Correctional Services that Shaik was "a severe suicide risk".
Shaik, who had been jailed four months earlier, was admitted to the private St Augustine's Hospital and spent 80 days there.
Gangat is also the person Balfour referred to when he said that one of the three doctors "even went as far as saying that his condition has reached an irreversible condition".
In his report to the board, Gangat was emphatic about medial parole for his patient.
"Mr Shaik is terminally ill with life-threatening organ failure due to malignant hypertension as delineated. I strongly recommend it."
Khan's report is less clear, but Balfour said in a statement on March 4 that the three medical practitioners' "collective submission" to the parole board was unanimous that Shaik was in "the final phase of his terminal condition".
The board's report states that Mbanjwa was the one who compiled a summary of all the reports from various doctors/ specialists over the years.
She was also a member of the department's regional task team, and agreed Shaik should be medically paroled. Mbanjwa, a former nurse, graduated in June, 2005, with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Limpopo.
She registered as a general practitioner in January, 2007, and works for Correctional Services. Khan is described in the board's report as Shaik's consultant cardiologist "in charge of other doctors" at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital.
She co-signed a September, 2008, report with D P Naidoo that Shaik should be considered for medical parole. (Click on images above to enlarge)
However, their lawyer, Altus van Rensburg, confirmed at the weekend that they had not done so because Shaik was in the last phase of a terminal condition.
Their report merely indicated he could not be kept indefinitely in their hospital, and given that "prison authorities were reluctant to manage him at the prison hospital, where conditions are suboptimal", he should be considered for medical parole.
While Naidoo believed Shaik was well enough to be discharged from the hospital in November, this was resisted by the hospital management under departmental orders.
Meanwhile, a flurry of doctors' reports preceded Shaik's original application for medical parole on December 2 last year.
This included a report by a Dr R Maharaj, who in November last year described Shaik's prognosis as "poor", and stated that "he needs to go home".
The board did not approve parole then, but said that if Shaik's condition deteriorated he could apply again in the new year.
On February 17 this year, KZN Acting Regional Commissioner Mnikelwa Nxele directed that Shaik's parole application must be processed.
A parole profile report generated by the department's case management committee, together with a recommendation, was forwarded to the parole board on February 28.
This set in motion the meetings with the doctors concerned, and a sitting of the parole board on March 2 that resulted in Shaik's release a day later.
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