Brazil’s Lula recovering after emergency brain surgery – doctors
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is recovering in an intensive care unit after emergency surgery to relieve pressure created by a brain hemorrhage, his doctors announced on Tuesday.
“The president is stable, talking, eating and will remain under observation over the next few days,” doctor Roberto Kalil said during a press conference.
Hours earlier, the president’s X account posted a hospital statement announcing his medical condition. Lula, 79 complained about having a headache and was taken to Hospital Sirio-Libanes in Brasilia on Monday evening to undergo a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedure, it said.
The scan showed an intracranial hemorrhage, which doctors link to an incident Lula had on October 19, when he fell at home and bumped his head. He underwent an “uneventful” surgery to drain the hematoma at the hospital’s branch in Sao Paulo and was remanded to an ICU for observation, the statement added.
During the press conference, Lula’s medical team said they expect the president to return to his duties early next week.
The October incident prevented Lula from taking part in several scheduled international events, including the summit of BRICS leaders in Russia. Brazil is one of the co-founders of the bloc of major non-Western economies.
The president has told the media that he accidentally fell in the bathroom when cutting his nails and hit the back of his head. The injury required several stitches, he explained. Lula said he has been undergoing regular MRI exams to check for signs of bleeding and taking preventative medicine.
