The President of the Civil House, Fernando Frutuoso de Melo, said that all items on the agenda scheduled for this week were canceled and next week is being evaluated. Trips to the Vatican and Spain, scheduled for next week, will be evaluated, he added. “If everything goes as planned, we will return to normal quickly”he stated.
Frutuoso de Melo spoke of an “active rest” of the President of the Republic, detailing that already today “he was issuing, promulgated a diploma”, he was very “shocked” by the death of journalist Constança Cunha e Sá, having published a note of condolence.
He said he should return to Lisbon by car and should stay at the Palácio de Belém to rest, as there is “medical and nursing care, immediate support”.
In this morning’s situation, the hospital director said that Marcelo had spent the night “very well” and that he was “having a calm, adequate post-operative period”.
On this first post-operative day, “We have to understand that at this stage it is important for the President of the Republic to get up, eat and understand how he is doing”explained Maria João Baptista. “If everything is ok, you will carry out any necessary tests, namely some analyses, which are the usual ones, and there are, in principle, no major tests to be carried out if everything is ok”, he said.
“It is expected that the President will be here today and we believe that he can be discharged in the short term. He will be here today. If everything is going as it has been going and if everything is fine, we believe that he could be discharged tomorrow”, he stated this morning. He further said that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was “perfectly calm”.
According to Maria João Baptista, what is usual in this type of surgery “is that there is a rest period of two, three or four weeks, it varies according to the person’s characteristics”. Rest can be more or less strict, taking into account clinical evolution, he said.
During the morning, Montenegro said that he followed Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s clinical situation “from the first moment”. “I had the opportunity to call the President of the Republic when I received the news that he was unwell, even before he went to the hospital, we exchanged a few words, he explained to me what he was feeling”, he said, without adding the content of the conversation, which took place at a time when the head of state did not know that he had to undergo a surgical intervention.
Montenegro highlighted that, “fortunately, everything went well”. “I know that the recovery is also proceeding normally,” he said in Santa Maria da Feira.
Asked if he was afraid that any dossier would remain pending, Montenegro clarified that “everything was up to date”. “The President of the Republic can and should be absolutely focused and concentrated on his physical recovery these days. That is what we also want,” he stated.
Even so, the Prime Minister said he was not surprised that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa “wants to return very quickly to active life, fully fulfilling his agenda and fulfilling his responsibilities as President of the Republic”. “Honestly, what I hope is that he can be focused on recovering from the surgical intervention he underwent, that everything can go smoothly and normally and that is how it will happen”, he concluded.