MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula discharged from hospital sooner than expected

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was discharged Sunday from the hospital where he underwent hip surgery last Friday.

“I was discharged and I am already at the Alvorada Palace, where I will be working in the coming weeks. Thank you for the prayers and all the messages of affection. I am recovering to work even harder for Brazil and run a marathon,” Lula posted on X (formerly Twitter). He also mentioned on social media that unemployment had fallen to 7.8%, the lowest figure since 2015.

Before the surgery, Lula said he intended to “work normally” during his convalescence at the official presidential residence. At any rate, he will have to stay in the Brazilian capital for at least four weeks, it was explained. On Friday, Lula da Silva had a hip prosthesis implanted, and excess skin was removed from his eyelids.

The Syrian-Lebanese Hospital in Brasilia, where Lula da Silva underwent both operations, issued a press bulletin to explain that, “after a good clinical evolution”, the president will continue an “outpatient rehabilitation” at his residence under the care of the doctors who operated on him.

The hospital also reported that the progressive leader, who will be 78 years old this month, “already walked, went up and down stairs with the assistance of physiotherapists”. This surprised the doctors, who admitted that the recovery process exceeded expectations, which caused the anticipation of his departure.“

Lula da Silva had been suffering from pains that made it difficult for him to move normally, due to which he underwent a ”total hip arthroplasty”, i.e. the replacement of the hip joints with titanium prostheses. The operation was intended to correct problems in the head of the right femur caused by osteoarthritis, which caused him permanent discomfort. He also took advantage of the fact that he would be under general anesthesia to have plastic surgery performed on his eyelids, a procedure known as blepharoplasty.