SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will undergo a new operation on Thursday morning, a continuation of the surgery he underwent this week to drain a brain hemorrhage, the hospital said on Wednesday in a medical report. He was in good shape.
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 fall at his home in late October.
His personal doctor, Roberto Calil Filho, told reporters on Wednesday that Thursday's surgery would help reduce the risk of bleeding in the future.
The hospital said doctors will hold a press conference after the surgery on Thursday.
The procedure – middle meningeal artery embolization – is “relatively simple” and “low-risk,” Khalil said, adding that it should take about one hour.
Khalil said the follow-up procedure had been discussed by doctors since Tuesday's surgery, and it did not represent a deterioration in Lola's health condition.
He said: “We waited to see that the president was recovering well before we decided to go ahead with the procedure.”
The 79-year-old president was in intensive care but did not suffer any complications during the day, when he walked, received visits from family members and received physical therapy, Sao Paulo's Sirio Libanes Hospital said in its updated note.
The emergency surgery has heightened health concerns for the elderly president, an icon of Latin America's left, who is in the middle of his final term after previously serving in the position from 2003 to 2011.
Earlier in the day, a previous medical note said Lula was clear and speaking after an overnight hospital stay and did not suffer any post-surgery complications.
