Brazil’s president ‘well’ after brain bleed surgery
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is recovering “well” after undergoing surgery for a brain bleed, according to his doctors.
The 79-year-old was hospitalized in Brasília on Monday after experiencing a severe headache. An MRI scan revealed the bleed, prompting his transfer to the renowned Sírio-Libanês hospital in São Paulo, where it was drained.
The intracranial hemorrhage resulted from a head injury he sustained when he fell in his bathroom at the presidential residence in October, as confirmed by a hospital statement.
Doctors performed a craniotomy, a procedure in which a portion of the skull is removed to treat the bleed and alleviate pressure, after which the bone is replaced.
In a press conference on Tuesday morning local time, the doctors reported that the president is in stable condition, conscious, and recovering following the surgery.
They said Lula was “lucid” and conversing with medical staff.
They also insisted that he had not sustained any brain injury and was not experiencing and after-effects from the surgery.
Asked when he would return to the capital, doctors said that if everything went well, they expected Lula to be back in Brasilia “next week”.
Earlier, the presidential spokesman, Paulo Pimenta, had said that Lula would likely remain in the intensive care unit for another 48 hours.
“He is stable, conscious and calm,” Mr Pimenta said.
While Lula is in hospital, Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin will take on some of the president’s commitments, including welcoming Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who is due to arrive in Brazil later today.
The doctors said the bleeding was a result of the fall Lula had sustained in October.
They explained that it was not unusual for problems from a blow to the head to appear “months later”.
Lula had slipped in the bathroom in the Alvorada Palace on 19 October and hit the back of his head.
He had to have five stitches and, on his doctors’ advice, cancelled his planned trip to Russia for a summit of the Brics countries.
He returned to full duties days later.
Lula has been in power since 1 January 2023 after narrowly beating the incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, in a bitterly fought election.
During the election campaign, he often joked that he had “the energy of a 30-year-old”.
