The president of Portugal will undergo emergency surgery for a hernia after being hospitalized due to an illness

The president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will undergo emergency surgery this Monday after they detected a incarcerated hernia When he was hospitalized due to an illness, confirmed the medical team at the hospital where he remains admitted.

The surgery, which will last approximately an hour and a half, has a “relatively low” riskboth the surgical risk and the anesthetic risk, therefore, it is foreseeable that the surgery will go well and that there will be no complications,” explained Maria João Baptista, president of the Board of Directors of the São João University Hospital, in statements to the press.

Rebelo de Sousa, who arrived at the hospital after feeling unwell and vomiting, is “very well in emotional terms,” ​​continued Baptista, who added that the president will remain admitted to the medical institution for a few days, without specifying how many.

The Portuguese head of state was hospitalized this afternoon at the São João University Hospital after feeling “unwell due to digestive blockage” after attending a funeral in the north of the country.

The Presidency’s doctors considered that, before embarking on the return trip to Lisbon, it would be advisable to perform some medical tests.

Rebelo de Sousa, 76 years old and with a history of heart problemsis currently in the final stretch of his second term, which ends next year after the presidential elections to be held on January 18.

The head of state has had several health problems: in October 2019 he underwent a catheterization and was diagnosed with several major coronary obstructions, which were treated during the intervention, and he underwent surgery for several hernias in 2017 and 2021.

In fact, Baptista explained this Monday that “the fact that the president had already undergone previous surgery for a hernia similar to the one he has at the moment was one of the factors” that led the doctors to make the decision “immediately.”

In June 2023, he was also hospitalized after fainting due to a drop in blood pressure during a visit to a university.