'I feel fine': Brazil's Lula discharged from hospital after brain surgery

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was discharged from hospital after spending six days recovering from an emergency surgery. The medical procedure was conducted to drain a haematoma in his brain. The news was confirmed on Sunday by the medical team at the Sírio-Libanês hospital in São Paulo.

The president eventually entered the room where the hospital officials were addressing the reporters, walking alongside First Lady Rosângela da Silva, known as Janja. Lula spoke to the reporters for 13 minutes and recalled how he [had a] haematoma, 52 days after a fall in the bathroom of the presidential residence on 19 October, The Guardian reported.

“Since I thought I was already cured, I must admit I was a bit alarmed at how much [the haematoma] had grown and the amount of fluid in my head. I was worried,” the president said, pausing to take a sip of water as the first lady affectionately touched his arm. “I only became fully aware of the seriousness of what had happened to me after the surgery,” Lula added.

‘I feel fine’

The 79-year-old underwent an operation in the early hours of Tuesday. In the procedure, a small hole was made in the skull to drain blood. On Thursday, he had a non-surgical procedure known as a middle meningeal artery embolisation to reduce the risk of further bleeding in the future.

Lula recalled that he was still experiencing headaches from the emergency surgery but is now fit to return to work. “I feel fine, I’m calm, and you all know that I claim the right to live until I’m 120,” said the leftist, serving his third term as Brazilian president. While he was discharged earlier than scheduled, Lula will not be returning to the capital Brasília immediately.

His medical team stated that the Brazilian President will remain in São Paulo until at least Thursday, when he is due to undergo a follow-up CT scan. If the results are satisfactory, he will be allowed to take a two-hour flight back to Brasilia. However, he has been barred from taking international flights that are of longer duration “until further notice”.

While the journalists were prohibited from asking questions, the Brazilian President addressed the Saturday arrest of one of the closest allies of the former president Jair Bolsonaro – ex-defence minister Gen Walter Braga Netto. The Brazilian politician was detained by federal police in connection with an alleged plot to stage a military coup.

“As I know you’re going to ask,” said Lula. “What happened this week with the arrest warrant issued against Gen Braga, I’ll show that I have more patience and am a democrat. I believe he is entitled to the presumption of innocence, something I didn’t have,” remarks Lula who himself spent 580 days in prison during his second term. His conviction was later annulled by the Brazilian authorities.

The president stressed that if the accusations were proven, “these individuals […] must be severely punished”. He mentioned that it was unacceptable for “high-ranking military officers to plot the murder of a president, his vice-president, and a supreme court judge”, referring to what federal police claim was an assassination plot devised by Bolsonaro’s allies after his 2022 electoral defeat.

With inputs from agencies.