Brazil’s Lula undergoes surgery for brain hemorrhage – hospital

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gestures during a meeting with members of the Rede Party in Brasilia, on April 28, 2022. FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva underwent surgery for a brain hemorrhage related to a recent fall, the Syrian-Lebanese Hospital in Sao Paulo said Tuesday.

“The operation went without complications” on Monday night, and Lula was “doing well, under monitoring” in an intensive care unit, the hospital said in a statement posted on the president’s Instagram account.

The hemorrhage was linked to a fall Lula suffered on October 19, the hospital said. Lula had hit his head after falling at the presidential residence in the capital Brasilia and received several stitches.

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On medical advice, Lula, 79, had canceled a planned trip to Russia that month for a BRICS summit.

He was admitted to the hospital’s branch in Brasilia on Monday “to undergo an imaging exam after experiencing a headache”, the hospital said. The exam found an intracranial hemorrhage.

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He was then “transferred to the Sao Paulo unit of the Syrian-Lebanese hospital, where he underwent a craniotomy to drain the hematoma.”

A medical team was scheduled to hold a news conference on Tuesday to provide an update.