The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousayou should remain hospitalized this Tuesday at São João Hospital, after being operated on for an “incarcerated hernia”. Recovery could last for around two weeks, hospital sources said.
During the morning, the president of the hospital’s board of directors, Maria João Baptista, told journalists that “the President had a good night”. He also added that the surgical intervention “took place without any complications, it was carried out in good time” and that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa should remain hospitalized this Tuesday, with the possibility of increase “will be reevaluated on Wednesday”.
At a press conference to take stock of the situation, Maria João Baptista said that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will now have to eat and get up, so the medical team can understand how he is doing and, if everything is fine, he will only do tests and it is expected that he will be discharged on Wednesday. “It is expected that he will be here today and we believe that he could be discharged in the short term. He will be here today. If everything is going as it has been and everything is fine, we believe that he could be discharged tomorrow [quarta-feira]. The President of the Republic is perfectly calm”, he added. Maria João Baptista described that this Tuesday, “first day after surgery”, involves an “important phase”.
“Mr President has to eat, get up and we will understand how he is”, he summarized, adding that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will carry out the necessary tests, namely the usual analyses, and, he said, “in principle, everything is fine, there will be no major tests to be carried out”.
Regarding visits, the president of the ULSSJ said that the head of state received a visit from the clinical team and people from the Civil House and can now receive visits in the afternoon, the first being from the President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, around 2pm. Also the Prime Minister intends to visit the head of state this Tuesday.
The Prime Minister said that he has been following the entire process since Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa felt unwell in Abrantes. “I know that the recovery is proceeding normally,” he explained.
Regarding recovery, Maria João Baptista said that the usual thing in this type of surgery is that there is a rest period of two weeks, three to four weeks”. “It varies, according to the person’s characteristics. This rest can be more intense or less intense, that is, more rigorous or less rigorous, according to the clinical evolution”, he concluded.
Schedule for the next few days
Due to the situation the The President’s agenda was changed. The head of the Civil House of the President of the Republic indicated to the Renaissance Radio that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s visits to Spain (10 to 12 December) and the Vatican (December 14th and 15th), scheduled for soon, are under evaluation and may be cancelled.
Frutuoso de Melo says that the decision whether or not to maintain these visits will be taken at the status scheduled for 3pm this Tuesday.
Despite feeling well and the post-operative period being “quiet and adequate”, the President of the Republic is in intensive care, which affects any visits he may receive at Hospital São João.
What is a incarcerated hernia?
A surgery emergency meeting took place on Monday night, after Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa felt unwell on his way back from Amarante, where he had been at the funeral of the Engineer António Mota.
According to Elisabete Barbosa, the President showed signs of “intestinal occlusion and vomiting”, and the intervention “was essential” and carried out “at the right time”.
One incarcerated hernia occurs when part of an organ becomes trapped inside the hernia, which can cause a persistent bulge, discomfort and swelling. In this specific case, explained Maria João Baptista, this happened because “the muscles of the abdominal wall were more fragile”, leading to “a portion of the small intestine becoming trapped”. The risk in these situations is that the trapped area stops receiving blood supply, which can lead to tissue death — a situation called strangulated hernia.
Four hernias and two fainting spells
Throughout his two terms in office, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had several episodes that involved going to the hospital, several of them related to hernias. Two years ago, fainted in a ceremony at the Faculty of Science and Technology, in Caparica, and was taken to Santa Cruz Hospital, where he stayed for four hours. Upon leaving, he explained that it had been a drop in tension caused by a mixture of poor diet and a glass of Moscatel drunk at the event. The doctor and his childhood friend Eduardo Barroso reduced the case to a “bigaio“.
It was the same Eduardo Barroso who insisted on Marcelo to be operated two inguinal herniasin December 2021. In 2019, it was heart problems that took him to Santa Cruz Hospital for a scheduled intervention: a catheterization. The previous year, he had undergone surgery for an umbilical hernia, which led him to undergo New Year message at homewhere he was recovering from surgery. This intervention was made by Eduardo Barroso, after a member of his team pointed out the President’s possible hernia after seeing images of Marcelo on the beach with his bare torso.
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