The Elysée Palace confirmed Wednesday that French President François Hollande underwent minor surgery in February 2011, after France Inter Radio initially revealed that the president had been hospitalised for several days just before the Socialist Party primaries, reports FRANCE 24.
Several minutes before the press release was published, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault also confirmed the news on RTL Radio, though he remained reticent on certain aspects of the procedure.
“Anything that falls in the private sphere is not my news to share. He wasn’t president when he had this minor operation,” Ayrault said.
For Ayrault, the operation was a non-issue.
“Many French men have problems with their prostates when they hit fifty. It’s normal,” he said. “Shouldn’t we respect that? Or do we always have to delve into a person’s private life?”
Bernard Debré is a French MP and a member of the opposition party UMP. He also happens to be the head doctor of the urology department at the hospital where Hollande had his operation. Debré told FRANCE 24's sister station Radio France Internationale that Hollande “wasn’t hiding anything.”
“There was nothing wrong with him! It’s just like we decided to say: you know, François Hollande had his appendix removed when he was seven. Who cares?” Debré said.
Debré also happened to be part of the team that cared for former President François Mitterand, who underwent prostate surgery at the end of his second term in September 1992.
Read more of this report from FRANCE 24.