Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been released from Sao Paulo hospital where he underwent emergency surgery for an intracranial hemorrhage near the brain, doctors announced on Sunday.
The 79-year-old president will be able to resume his activities, but he will have to be monitored very carefully over the next 15 days and remain in Sao Paulo until Thursday, when he will have to undergo new examinations, said at a conference of urges cardiologist Roberto Kalil, one of the doctors who treated Lula at the Syrian-Lebanese hospital in Sao Paulo.
Lula will then be able to return to Brasilia and resume his work schedule. “The only restriction is physical exercise,” said Dr. Kalil.
The doctor later stressed, during an interview with TV Globo, that there had been “a risk that the worst would happen.”
After surgery for a hemorrhage near the brain caused by a blow to the head in a fall, Lula recovered in a way that “far exceeded doctors’ expectations,” said Dr. Ana Helena. Germoglio, also a member of the medical team.
“To my greatest happiness and that of the team, the president has left the hospital,” she said.
The Brazilian leader, known for his frenetic work pace, unexpectedly burst into the press conference and approached the microphones by walking unassisted.
“I am here whole (…) I am going back home,” said Lula, wearing a jacket and a hat hiding the scars from his operation.
The hemorrhage was the result of a domestic accident on October 19, when Lula fell in the bathroom of his official residence in Brasilia, hitting the back of his head.
He has since had stitches and periodic checkups for several weeks.
Then he got down to his program as head of state, which was particularly busy, including the presence of G20 leaders at a summit in Rio de Janeiro on November 18 and 19.
