Brasilia (AFP) – Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva spent his first “stable” night after hip surgery on Friday and began physical therapy sessions on Saturday morning, his doctors announced.
First change: September 30, 2023 – 5:05 p.m
1 minute
According to the latest medical bulletin, Lula, 77, “spent the night in stable condition, went for walks in the morning and underwent physiotherapy sessions” in his room at Sirio Lebanés Hospital in Brasilia.
The doctors who operated on him said on Friday that everything went “well” and that he would be discharged “at the latest on Monday or Tuesday”.
But Lula will have to interrupt his intensive travel schedule: he will stay in Brasilia for at least four weeks, although he intends to “work normally” during his recovery.
However, his doctor, Roberto Kalil Filho, assured that he was “confident” that the head of state would recover in time to attend the UN climate change conference COP28, which will take place in Dubai at the end of November.
This is an important event for the man who has emerged as a champion of the environment and has pledged to end deforestation in the Amazon by 2030.
The surgery, a total hip replacement to relieve the pain of osteoarthritis, took just over an hour.
After inserting a hybrid prosthesis, doctors took advantage of “Lula’s good response to anesthesia” to perform minor cosmetic surgery to correct droopy eyelids.
Earlier this week, the former union member said he was “very optimistic” about the upcoming operation, hoping to finally end the pain he had suffered for more than a year and which had left him in a “bad mood”. “
“I’ll take good care of myself (…) I’m sure I’ll be fine when I come back,” he said on Tuesday during his weekly “Conversation with the President” broadcast on social media was broadcast.
At first, Lula will have to use a walking frame “so as not to lose his balance,” said surgeon Giancarlo Polisello on Friday. However, the president doesn’t want to show the slightest sign of weakness in front of the cameras. “You won’t see me with a walker or crutches,” Lula said, revealing that he made this decision on the advice of his official photographer.
© 2023 AFP