Zeman hospitalized with broken arm

President Miloš Zeman, who underwent surgery for a broken arm after falling Tuesday, is in good health and should be released from the Central Military Hospital (ÚVN) on Saturday or Sunday. His chancellor Vratislav Mynář told reporters today. Zeman will not change the program for next week, when, for example, he is to visit the South Moravian Region. Mynář added that the President is in a good mood and has already moved from the postoperative to the standard room.

The President was taken to hospital on Tuesday night after he decided to go without a cane after watching the evening news on television and fell. The President has been suffering from foot neuropathy for a long time, which requires him to use a cane while walking. He was transferred to the ÚVN, where doctors operated on his right arm.

The President’s spokesman Jiří Ovčáček stated that he was operated on under general anesthesia. According to Mynář, the operation lasted less than an hour, and a titanium screw was implanted in the President’s arm. ÚVN spokeswoman said that there were no complications during the operation.

Now the President is so good that he had lunch with fish and boiled potatoes, Mynář told reporters after a lunch visit. According to him, the recovery should last six to eight weeks, and the President will probably wear a brace. “As for the president’s program, we have so far agreed that there will be no changes to the program,” Mynar said. He added that the program’s possible adjustment would be decided after he is released for home treatment.

Mynář noted that injuries after convalescence should not prevent the President from performing his duties. “It will depend on how he gets into home treatment and how, of course, the convalescence will take place,” he added.

According to Ovčáček, it will depend on Zeman “when he feels able to renew the work program”. According to him, Prague Castle is preparing a TV appearance on September 6. Ovčáček said that it would be a television interview; he wants to publish the details later.

Due to the accident, the President had to cancel today’s tapping on the foundation stone of the Supreme Audit Office’s new building and a meeting with Cardinal Dominik Duka. “No other program will be canceled yet, including a visit to the South Moravian Region,” Mynář told Radio Frekvence 1.

According to him, Zeman had an accident in Lumbe’s villa at Prague Castle, where he was with his wife, Ivana. “It just happened, of course, the president is entitled to his privacy, and if he decided to move without security, it is his right,” the chancellor commented on the circumstances of the President’s accident.

According to Mynář, the President visited his wife Ivana on Tuesday, and his daughter Kateřina also saw him on Tuesday. According to him, some of his colleagues sent greetings to the President, likewise the presidents of Egypt, Russia or Serbia, as well as Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO), Minister of the Interior Jan Hamáček, Minister of Defense Lubomír Metnar (for ANO) and many other politicians.

Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová also sent a telegram to Zeman. “The President received this report with concern and expressed the hope that the President is already feeling better. She wished him a speedy recovery, a lot of positive energy in healing, and a return to everyday life as soon as possible.”