Temporary Illness - Basescu Under the Surveillance of Sorin Oprescu

President Traian Basescu is at the Elias Hospital in order to undergo a disc hernia surgery, which will be performed by a team of doctors from the Elias, University and "Bagdasar Arseni" Hospitals.

According to the medical commission, President Traian Basescu is a medical emergency and it seems he had been suffering from back pains for quite some time.

Traian Basescu has been admitted to the Elias University Emergency Hospital on the 8th of May 2006 and has been diagnosed with "lumbar disc hernia (levels L4-L5) with root compression phenomena". As it is shown in a public statement of the Bucharest Emergency University Hospital (SUUB).

CONSULTATIONS

Yesterday, at approximately 5 o’clock in the afternoon, was in pre-surgery state. At the time the first edition of the newspaper went to print, Traian Basescu was to be transferred from the Elias Hospital to the University Hospital, for the surgery. Some of the members of the multidisciplinary team that will perform the surgery are Prof. Dr. Vlad Ciurea, neurosurgeon of the "Bagdasar Arseni" Hospital, Lect. Dr. Dan Voinescu, neurosurgeon of the Elias Hospital, Lect. Dr. Gabriel Iacob, neurosurgeon of the SUUB. The multidisciplinary commission has undergone all the details regarding the medical security of the patient, as Sorin Oprescu stated. He added that the members of the multidisciplinary commission have talked with neurosurgeons in Vienna, and they agreed with the conclusions of the Romanian commission.

MEDICAL EXAMINATION

The doctors presented the options to President Basescu. He chose to undergo the surgery in Romania and not abroad, and he wanted the surgery to be performed by Romanian doctors. The intervention will take from 60 to 120 minutes, it requires general anesthesia and it has the natural risks for such an intervention, Sorin Oprescu stated. As for the presence of a diabetes specialist in the multidisciplinary commission, Sorin Oprescu said this was necessary for a complete medical examination, as well as because of the fact that the patient has been injected cortisone.

Sorin Oprescu added that, from the point of view of the necessary documents for the surgery, Traian Basescu went through all the steps that a normal patient usually has to go through.

OTHER PRESIDENTS IN SIMILAR SITUATIONS

The disc hernia surgery in the case of President Traian Basescu wouldn’t be a premier for a Romanian President. Before the year 2000, President Ion Iliescu had some problems with his gall bladder and has undergone a classical surgery. This wasn’t the only entrance of Ion Iliescu in the Operating Room. The second time happened when he wasn’t President and it required an intervention on the vessels that bring the vessels to the heart. A team of cardiologists from the Fundeni Heart Institute and from the Floreasca Emergency Hospital has assembled a collar, which dilated the coronary, and Ion Iliescu is in good shape. Former President Emil Constantinescu has undergone a surgery on his colon by a team led by Professor Irinel Popescu, the chief of the Fundeni Clinique for Hepatic Transplant and General surgery. (Florin Condurateanu)

POSTPONEMENT

The President’s schedule for this week has been suspended. The Cotroceni Palace announced yesterday that the official visit of the Finland’s President, Tarja Halonen, which was supposed to take place between the 9th and 11th of May, has also been postponed. Traian Basescu also had to go to a few other public meetings this week. One of them was the initiation of the monument for the President that funded the E.U. (Oana Stancu)

Translated by Sorin Balan