President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) entered the final phase of preparation for surgery to eliminate severe pain that he has felt in his hip since the 2022 election campaign. The operation is scheduled for next Friday (29) , and Lula should not move away from his activities as president.
The surgery is called total hip arthroplasty. In practice, it represents the replacement of the original joint with a prosthesis that fulfills the same function. The pain is concentrated in the region where the femur, the thigh bone, articulates with the pelvis.
In recent days, the president has been seen wearing a mask, like the day he met Vietnam’s Prime Minister, Pham Mihn Chinh. Protection was a medical recommendation, to avoid contamination with any type of virus or bacteria that would force hospitalization to be postponed.
Lula will be operated on by a team led by his personal doctor, Roberto Kalil Filho, and by the doctor of the Presidency of the Republic, Ana Helena Germoglio, as well as an orthopedist whose name has not been disclosed. They will be responsible for granting an interview at the end of the procedure.
The president spoke about the surgery in this Tuesday’s edition (27) of the weekly program Conversa com o Presidente, broadcast by government media. He said the operation “seems simple” but that post-operative care, such as physiotherapy, is essential.
“I wanted to have operated right after the elections, but I said ‘if I operate now, they will say that Lula is old, that he won the elections and is already hospitalized’. No. I decided first to recover Brazil politically and internally, with social inclusion. Then, recover Brazil in international geopolitics. Tell the whole world that Brazil is back”, he stated.
“Home office”
The operation will take place at the Brasília unit of Hospital Sírio-Libanês. The president is expected to remain hospitalized until the 3rd (Tuesday) and, after being discharged, he will go to Palácio da Alvorada, from where he will leave for at least three weeks.
The president’s travel schedule will be interrupted for four to six weeks. He is expected at the Climate Conference, COP28, in Dubai (United Arab Emirates). The event takes place between November 30th and December 12th.
“My surgery is just to take care of my health. I want to play ball again, I want to run again, do the treadmill again, do gymnastics. And I’ve been in pain since August last year. It hurts to sleep, it hurts to get up, it hurts to sit , it hurts to stand up,” Lula told journalists on the day he met with the Vietnamese prime minister.
Editing: Vivian Virissimo
