'Tsvangirai's hair falling off'

MDC-T yesterday tried to play down former prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai's latest health problems, saying the party's leader was in a stable condition after he was airlifted to a South African hospital on Friday.

Tsvangirai was airlifted around 2am to South Africa on a life-support system after his health drastically deteriorated as he was attending an MDC Alliance strategic meeting in Kadoma on Thursday. A chartered private jet airlifted Tsvangirai to a medical facility in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Highly-placed sources said Tsvangirai, who last year disclosed that he was fighting cancer of the colon, reportedly started vomiting after lunch resulting in him excusing himself from the meeting before heading back to Harare. His condition, according to high-level sources, deteriorated further.

The MDC-T leader was accompanied by his wife Elizabeth, Dr Alifazema and an anaesthetist nurse only identified as Muzavazi.

Tsvangirai recently opened up on his health to a local daily.

"You know my hair just went out the other day. But I had stayed with my hair for almost eight (chemotherapy) sessions.

"I'm still under treatment. And as you can see, I am responding well to treatment," he told the Daily News at his residence.

Patients undergoing chemotherapy often suffer side effects, including nausea and vomiting, which is usually controlled through antipsychotic or anti-vomiting medicine.

"I was so fortunate, I didn't go through those, vomiting and all that, no I didn't," revealed the MDC leader.

The former prime minister said he was fortunate to be receiving treatment at the best cancer facility in South Africa but was quick to bemoan the steep treatment costs.

"That is why people die. It's totally unsustainable," he said.