President to undergo minor medical procedure after back pain complaint

President Alberto Fernández is set to undergo a minor medical operation for a lumbar hernia on Thursday after reporting sharp back pain.

The Peronist leader has been working from the Olivos presidential residence since Tuesday evening, after he was rushed to the Otamendi Hospital in Buenos Aires earlier in the day in considerable discomfort.

According to a statement from the Presidential Medical Unit, Fernández received corticoid treatment to reduce the pain.

Thursday's procedure, which was moved forward after being initially scheduled for Friday, was to take the form of introducing a fine needle into his spine to administer the medication. Should this operation fail to achieve its objective, the president could be subjected to further microsurgery.

Prior to the operation the president was confined to working out of Olivos. The surgery was delayed due to the anticoagulants which Fernández is obliged to take due to a lung infection suffered in 2019.

"I feel fine. The very intense pain from the hernia has been placated with analgesics but I must restrict my mobility," commented Alberto Fernández in midweek. As a consequence he was unable to make scheduled trips to the provinces of Chaco and Entre Ríos last week.

Presidential spokesperson Gabriela Cerruti updated the media and the general public with bulletins throughout the week, while confirming the presence of President Fernández at the Ibero-American Summit in the Dominican Republic on March 24-25, despite the health problems.

Last Tuesday was the most serious presidential health scare since Fernández was stricken with erosive gastritis at the G20 summit on the Indonesian island of Bali last November.

– TIMES/NA