SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will undergo a brain procedure on Thursday morning to complement the surgery he went through this week, the hospital said on Wednesday in a medical update that stressed he was doing well.
Doctors operated on the leftist leader for about two hours on Tuesday to drain bleeding between his brain and meningeal membrane, which doctors said was linked to a late October fall at his home.
Thursday’s endovascular procedure will help minimize the risk of future bleeding, his personal doctor, Roberto Kalil Filho, told reporters on Wednesday.
Sao Paulo’s Sirio-Libanes Hospital said in the update note that the 79-year-old president was in intensive care but had no complications during the day, when he walked, received visits from family members and did physiotherapy.
The emergency surgery added to health concerns about the elderly president, an icon of the Latin American left who is halfway through his latest term after previously serving in the role from 2003 to 2011.
Earlier in the day, a previous medical note said Lula was lucid and talking following the overnight hospital stay and had experienced no post-surgery complications.
