The operation took place at Rikshospitalet on Tuesday morning and was successful, the royal house writes in a press release.
– The king has had an infection which has also affected the heart.
That’s what the king’s physician Bjørn Bendz said when he met the press on Tuesday afternoon.
He assumes the king will stay in hospital for a few more days.
– After that, he will probably have to be on sick leave for a while. It probably makes sense that he is on sick leave over Easter.
The operation on Tuesday took about an hour, and the king was awake during the operation.
Would travel down myself
The king was on holiday in Malaysia when he contracted an infection.
Bendz praises the hospital in Malaysia and the staff there as skilled. As the king is so old, he still wanted to travel down himself.
At first, they gave the king medication to keep his heart rate up, but eventually found the need to insert a temporary pacemaker.
They do not know where the infection came from, but quickly started antibiotic treatment and saw that it worked.
Eventually they also saw that there was a need for a permanent pacemaker.
– How seriously ill was the king?
– When people who are almost 90 years old are admitted with an infection, it is always serious, answers Bendz.
Frisk when he went on holiday
The king’s condition was good when he went on holiday to Malaysia, says Bendz.
He also says that a risk assessment was carried out before the trip, where, among other things, the health services in the area were assessed.
– It was a very good health service. I think this case shows that this was handled very well by those at the local hospital, says the life doctor.
The royal couple were actually going home on a commercial flight.
– It was unwise. We needed an ambulance. Then we were lucky that the government sent the mentioned SAS plane, says Bendz.
The Crown Prince Regent: – Has gone well
Crown Prince Haakon, who is Crown Prince Regent in his father’s absence due to illness, visited the “Nordic Response” military exercise in Alta on Tuesday.
There he answered some questions from the press.
– It is best that those at home provide more information, he says of the king’s intervention, but adds:
– But it is at least good that it has gone well.
The Prime Minister wishes a speedy recovery
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) is regularly informed about the king’s health.
When he met the press on Tuesday, he said that everyone in Norway is thinking of the king and wishing him well.
– I wish our king a speedy recovery and that the operation goes well. And it certainly tends to do that. I also think that it will be good for him, said Støre.
BY THE KING OF THE FOREST: Jonas Gahr Støre at a budget conference at Klækken hotel today.
Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB
A week ago it became clear that King Harald needs a permanent pacemaker. The reason is that his heart rate is too low.
However, the king could not have the pacemaker inserted until he was completely free of the infection he has been struggling with recently. Therefore, the operation has been delayed.
Got a temporary pacemaker before the trip home
King Harald has been admitted to the National Hospital in Oslo since he returned home from Malaysia on 3 March.
The king’s physician Bjørn Bendz has followed King Harald closely in recent years.
Photo: Geir Olsen / NTB
By then, the king had already had a temporary pacemaker inserted at the Sultanah Maliha hospital in Langkawi.
The decision was made the day before the long flight and was supposed to make the journey home safer, explained the king’s physician Bjørn Bendz.
During the press conference on Tuesday, Bendz also explained in detail how the operation is done.
These were the dramatic days when the king fell ill in Malaysia:
– Not a major intervention
A permanent pacemaker controls the heart’s rhythm.
This was explained by Lars Aaberge, head of the cardiology department at Oslo University Hospital, to NRK last week.
He spoke on a general basis.
Senior doctor at Oslo University Hospital explains what a permanent pacemaker is. Pacemaker is a system that can stimulate the heart muscle electrically so that a heartbeat can be started. Properly adapted, it completely or partially replaces the heart’s conduction system.
According to Aaberge, inserting a permanent pacemaker is not a complicated operation.
– No, it is not a major intervention. It is usually done with local anaesthetic. The pacemaker is then placed as a matchbox-sized battery under the skin, preferably in the left shoulder region. Then the wires go from there and down to the heart, he said.
Insertion of a pacemaker will not affect the king’s work going forward, says Bendz on Tuesday.
– Progression only goes one way, and that is to get better and better, he emphasizes.
He also describes the operation as uncomplicated.
Previous heart surgery
The king has also previously undergone interventions related to the heart.
In 2020, King Harald replaced a heart valve at Rikshospitalet, after struggling with heavy breathing.
King Harald has visited the vast majority of Norway’s municipalities. Here he is in Flå last October.
Photo: Vilde Helljesen / NRK
Also in 2005, he also underwent an operation on the heart valve between the heart and the main artery.
At that time, the aortic valve was replaced with an artificial heart valve.
Last year, King Harald had 431 work assignments – this is how his working day looks like:
2024-03-12 15:01:00
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