President Basescu''s surgery turns out successful

President Traian Basescu underwent surgery in the Allgemeines Krankenhaus (AKH) hospital in Vienna, with the procedure completed successfully yesterday around 8 a.m. The management of the hospital in Vienna announced the president was not in any pain from the surgical procedure on his hernia of the disk, and that he would probably stay in the clinic for a week to be kept under observation.

The Austrian doctors stated yesterday after the procedure that they would have liked to keep President Traian Basescu “for two or three more weeks” in the hospital, as his hernia was “of an unusual size, very disseminated, not located in the usual spot and touching several nerves,” AFP reports quoted by Mediafax.

The doctors believe Basescu “will be able to take a few steps towards the end of the week,” but will have to go through a rehabilitation programme.

“We are glad to announce to you that we have successfully operated on the head of the Romanian state,” stated Professor Reihnard Krepler, AKH”s chief physician.

“He is full of energy and fully capable of taking on his duties. His room was equipped with all the necessary means of communication, his room is actually a mix of both hospital and office,” Krepler said.

Basescu was subjected to an almost two-hour surgical procedure to eliminate an “unusually” large hernia, the Austrian doctors said.

“The operation was carried out without any problems, though it treated an unusually large hernia, very disseminated, which was not in the usual spot and touched several nerves,” stated neurosurgeon Engelbert Knosp, who performed the procedure. “The patient has come out of the surgery very well. He is in a very good mood and says he no longer feels any pain,” he added.

The hernia caused “neurological problems” with the president losing sensitivity in the lower part of the body because of the pressure on the nerves.

Knosp added AKH was chosen because it has “every modern piece of equipment” and regularly works with the University Hospital in Bucharest.