(Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Friday he will undergo hip surgery to treat chronic femoral pain by the end of September.
Talking to supporters at an event in Rio Grande do Norte state, Lula, 77, said he will have the surgery after hosting his Vietnamese counterpart on Sept. 26.
The Brazilian president, who recently underwent an infiltration in his hip to relieve the pain, said in July he would need surgery, but that he expected it would happen in October.
“When I get back I’m going to host the president of Vietnam on the 26th, and then I’m going to get ready for the surgery,” he said.
Lula, who has been traveling abroad relentlessly since he took office in January, said his last trip this year will be to the summit of the G77 group of developing nations in Cuba later this month.
Before that, he will attend a summit of G20 nations next week in India, as well as the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
(Reporting by Pedro Fonseca; Writing by Peter Frontini; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Josie Kao)
