Brazil’s Lula says he is doing well after undergoing surgery for a brain bleed

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been released from hospital after emergency surgery for a brain haemorrhage. – said the doctors.

The 79-year-old man appeared with his medical team at a press conference at the Sírio-Libanês Hospital in São Paulo.

“It’s not an interview, it’s just a session to say thank you. To thank, above all, God, who took care of me in a very generous manner,” he said.

Lula was taken to hospital on Monday after complaining of a severe headache.

Doctors performed a craniotomy on the president, a procedure in which part of the bone is surgically removed from the skull to treat bleeding and relieve pressure. The bone is then replaced.

The brain hemorrhage, or intracranial hemorrhage, was caused by a blow to the head he suffered when he fell in his bathroom at the presidential residence in October, the hospital said in a statement.

“Thank you so much for the prayers,” Lula added on Sunday. “And for those who have only hatred, you forgive. I am here, alive, whole and with a great desire to work.”

Doctors said on Tuesday that the president’s condition after the operation is stable and he is conscious.

Lula was “lucid” and talking to medical staff, they added.

They also insisted that he had no brain injury and no side effects from the surgery.

When asked when he would return to the capital, doctors said that if all goes well, they expect Lula to return to Brasilia “next week.”

While Lula was in the hospital, Vice President Geraldo Alcmin took over some of the president’s duties.

Doctors said the bleeding was the result of Lula’s fall in October.

They explained that it is not uncommon for head impact problems to appear “months later.”

On October 19, Lula slipped in a bathroom at the Alvarado Palace and hit the back of his head. On Sunday, he explained that at the time he was cutting his toenails and sitting down.

He was then given five stitches. On the recommendation of doctors, the president canceled the planned trip to Russia for the BRIS summit.

He returned to full duties a few days later.

Lula has been in power since last January after narrowly defeating incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in elections.

During the election campaign, he often joked that he had “the energy of a 30-year-old.”

Additional reporting by Malu Kursin