Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo has been diagnosed with malignant lymphoma, his doctors have said. Lugo, 59, will travel to Brazil on Tuesday for more tests, Health Minister Esperanza Martinez and doctors treating him said in a press conference on Friday.
The cancer was detected during a surgery on Wednesday to remove a gland from his abdomen.
“The treatment will have to be defined in accord with the laboratory results, but to give you an idea, classic treatment for lymphoma is with a chemotherapy procedure which is done every three weeks and lasts for around three months or more,” doctor Alfredo Boccia told reporters.
Hours before the press conference, presidential adviser Emilio Camacho said that the President was back to work after Wednesday’s operation at Italiano clinic in Asuncion. Lugo, a former Catholic bishop, took office in August 2008 for a five-year term.