Brazil President Lula 'stable' after emergency surgery

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was in "stable" condition after emergency surgery Tuesday for an intracranial haemorrhage and should leave the hospital next week, his doctors said.

Lula, 79, was transported overnight to Brazil's top medical facility, Hospital Sirio-Libanes in São Paulo, after experiencing headaches that medics found were related to a fall he suffered in October.

The leader of South America's largest country regained consciousness following the two-hour operation and was eating and talking, the doctors told a news conference.

Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin had taken over Lula's workload in the meantime.

"After successful surgery, the anguish of last night has changed to calm and the certainty that, with the dedication of the medical team and faith and the people's love, he will soon return to work," Lula's wife, First Lady Rosângela 'Janja' Lula da Silva, said on Instagram.

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

After experiencing a headache on Monday, a medical examination with an MRI scan in Brasilia found the intracranial haemorrhage.

Lula was swiftly transported to Hospital Sirio-Libanes, where surgeons performed a trepanation – drilling into the skull to relieve pressure.

"The bleeding was between the brain and the dura mater membrane," a thick protective layer under the skull, and was located on the left side, above the frontal lobe and the parietal lobe, said Marcos Stavale, a doctor on the medical team.

Through surgery, "the brain was decompressed and neurological functions were preserved," he said.

"He didn't have brain damage" from the emergency, added another doctor, Roberto Kalil.

'Serious' fall

Back in October, Lula canceled a planned trip to Russia for a BRICS summit following his fall, instead joining the meeting online. He also skipped a UN COP29 climate summit in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan

Lula at the time described his accident as "serious" during a telephone call with an official from his Workers' Party (PT) that was shared on social media.

Since then, the Brazilian leader has maintained a busy schedule, including last month hosting the G20 Leaders Summit in Rio de Janeiro and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Brasília, and last week attending a summit of the Mercosur bloc in Uruguay.

Lula has frequently talked about his good health and has said he wants to "live to 120."

But the Brazilian leader has faced other health issues in the past.

Lula underwent a successful hip replacement in September 2023, which he hoped would put an end to pain that had become unbearable and put him "in a bad mood."

He was also treated for throat cancer in 2011, which was put into remission through chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Lula, who led the country from 2003 to 2010, won another term in office when he defeated far-right president Jair Bolsonaro in October 2022 elections after a hard-fought campaign.

He has not said whether he will run again in 2026 elections, telling CNN last month that "I'm going to think about 2026 in 2026."

"It's not the youth that's going to solve the world governance problems. What's going to solve the world governance problem is the competence of the ruler, the mindset of the ruler, the health of those," Lula said.

"I will be willing to run again. But I hope it won't be necessary. And I hope that we'll have other candidates and so that we can have great political renovation in the country and in the world," he added.

Lula's long history of health woes

Brazil's 79-year-old President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is recovering from emergency surgery after suffering an intracranial hemorrhage, has a long history of health problems and mishaps. But just as in politics, the hyperactive leftist – who is half-way through his third term – has bounced back from every misfortune.

Lost a finger
In 1964, when he was a metalworker in a car parts factory, Lula lost the little finger on his left hand in a workplace accident. Lula, who was 19 at the time, said that a press broke and, when he tried to fix it, his finger was crushed. He went on to become a trade union leader before entering politics.

Hypertension scare
Lula was forced to cancel a trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2010 after being admitted to hospital with alarmingly high blood pressure. He was 64 years old at the time and nearing the end of his second term. Doctors said he was suffering from stress and fatigue after a bout of flu. He was discharged from hospital after a few hours and subsequently quit smoking after 50 years.

Larynx cancer
After leaving power in 2011, at 66, he was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer and underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Doctors announced he had made a full recovery the following year, although his once-booming voice was left with a hoarseness that became a trademark on his campaign trail return. During the 2022 presidential race, which marked his stunning return to power after a year and a half behind bars on corruption charges, some of his opponents questioned his health because of his weak voice. Three weeks after his re-election, he underwent surgery to remove a lesion from his vocal cords.

Hip replacement
In September 2023, he received a hip replacement to relieve pain that had been bothering him for over a year. Lula suffers from osteoarthritis, or wear and tear on the cartilage that protects joints. The image-conscious president has since published videos of himself doing exercises in the presidential residence.

Bathroom fall
On October 19, 2024, he fell in his bathroom and hit his head, for which he received stitches. Following that accident, he cancelled his participation in a meeting of the BRICS bloc in Russia and worked from his official residence for several days.

Haemorrhage in head
Doctors on Monday discovered an intracranial haemorrhage related to the fall, for which the president underwent emergency surgery in the early hours of December 10 in São Paulo. His medical team assured he did not suffer any brain damage. He will remain under observation in intensive care for the next 48 hours and will remain hospitalised until next week, doctors said.

– TIMES/AFP