Former Malawi president, Bakili Muluzi, seriously ill

Former Malawian president Dr Bakili Muluzi is seriously ill.
Muluzi, who recently returned to Malawi from the United Kingdom where he was operated on dislocated spinal disks, Tuesday sought medical attention at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital’s Magnetic Resonance Centre reportedly after enduring a sleepless Monday night.
The former President’s son, Atupele, said in an interview his father was advised to seek urgent medical attention in South Africa for the slipped disks but awaits court approval as he is currently answering to corruption charges in his K72 billion corruption case.
He revealed that his family lawyers were currently working on the court documents to allow his father fly to South Africa for “immediate” medical treatment.
QECH does not have the medical facilities requisite to Muluzi’s ailment, yet another reminder of perpetual resource constraints currently facing the country’s health care delivery system.
Frail looking Muluzi, who announced his retirement from active politics on the eve of Christmas last week, drove into the grounds of Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital at around 8am in the morning and some people present at the hospital said Muluzi was visibly in pain.
Muluzi himself confirmed the development at the hospital, only answering, “I am in great pain” when journalists sought his views.
According to his family, the former president is experiencing back problems around the area he was recently operated on for dislocated spinal disks.
This has forced Muluzi to make the United Kingdom, where he receives specialized medical treatment, his abode of hope.
His family has since revealed that Muluzi was advised by his doctors to stay in London, and not come to back to Malawi on December 16, 2009 according to bail-bond conditions for his corruption case, until he healed successfully. A medical report indicates that the former president needed two more weeks of recuperation in London, noting his trip to Malawi could have aggravated his medical condition.
But that would have put him in bad books with the country’s Anti Corruption Bureau. Officials, who already doubted Muluzi’s prospects to return to Malawi when he sought a court injunction permitting him to seek medical help in the UK some three months ago.
The Anti graft body alleges that the former Malawi president diverted millions of donor funds into his personal account to build his business empire.