PRESIDENT Glafcos Clerides underwent successful surgery to remove a polyp growth from his large intestine yesterday morning.
Surgeons said 81-year-old Clerides’ post-operative condition was stable and that they believed the tumour to be benign, though they will not know for sure until Monday, when results of a biopsy will be ready.
The political repercussions of the surgery were still not entirely clear yesterday, with the Government Spokesman suggesting earlier estimations that the President would be unable to attend the third round of settlement talks in New York on May 23 might have been overly pessimistic.
Doctors had promised the President’s polyp removal surgery would be a "routine" operation, and it turned out to be just that.
It began at 8.30am and was completed at noon.
Shortly afterwards, one of Clerides’ three personal physicians, Dr Iosif Kasios read out an official medical bulletin.
"The operation went smoothly without any particular problems," he stated. "The President came round normally and was transferred to the intensive care unit. His condition is stable and satisfactory."
Four surgeons – George Kyriakides, Vasos Makris, Andreas Constantinides and Michalis Theophanous – carried out the operation in the presence of the president’s personal physicians, Akis Syrimis, Kasios and George Pavlides.
Kyriakides said afterwards that the President would be "active" and able to start taking liquids within two or three days and could leave the clinic in 10 days’ time. But Kyriakides said it would take "at least six weeks" for the President to recover fully.
The surgeon said his experience of such cases told him the polyp was benign but he stressed that nothing could be taken for granted until the results of a biopsy were known.
Kyriakides said a scan carried out on Thursday in preparation for the operation yesterday had shown no traces of polyps in other organs.
It was reported yesterday that the scan had shown up a piece of shrapnel in the President’s body that had been there since the days of his service with the RAF in World War Two. There was no official confirmation of this yesterday.
Earlier in the day, Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said no decision had yet been taken about whether to postpone Clerides’ trip to New York for UN-sponsored indirect talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash on May 23.
"No change has been made so far in the planning until we see how things develop, this does not mean talks will resume on May 23 as scheduled but at present there is no reason to change dates," Papapetrou told reporters outside the Evangelistria.
Cassoulides later said foreign envoys were concerned over the situation created by the state of Clerides’ health.
Also speaking outside the clinic, he said he was not sure about any possible change of date or venue for the talks, adding the issue would be discussed next week.
Foreign envoys scheduled to visit the island ahead of the May 23 talks have been forced to put their plans on hold and Clerides’ doctors have advised him he will not be well enough to travel to New York for May 23.
But the UN spokeswoman in New York, Marie Okabe, stated late on Thursday that Clerides himself had contacted the UN envoy in charge of the settlement talks, Alvaro de Soto, to inform him he was still hopeful of making the May 23 date.
