Brazil: Lula to undergo femur surgery

Saturday, September 2nd 2023 - 10:22 UTC

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Lula has a tight international agenda ahead of him before his medical procedure

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva explained Friday that he will be undergoing surgery later this month to correct his femur problems.

“I'm going to stop because, I want to confess, this pain hurts during the day, it hurts sitting down, it hurts standing up, it hurts lying down, and there's no remedy. The remedy is to operate,” the former labor leader during an event in the State of Rio Grande do Norte.

The 77-year-old president, who has arthrosis in the head of the femur, also explained that he will have the medical procedure done when he returns from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

In the meantime, Lula plans to travel on Sept. 7 to the G20 Summit in India to be held on Sept. 9-10. The group brings together the world's largest economies and Brazil is to take over its pro-tempore presidency in 2024. The event will take place between the 9th and 10th of this month.

Lula will then leave for Cuba to participate in a meeting of the Group of 77 (G77 - a coalition of 134 developing nations) on Sept. 15 and 16, before flying to New York for the UN event between Sept. 23 and 23.

After that, he will welcome Vietnamese authorities in Brasilia on Sept. 26 and then he will take a “pause” to undergo surgery on his femur.

According to the doctors treating him, no risks or complications are expected and the recovery process will take “only a few days,” during in which he will even be able to work from his residence.