Brazil’s 79-year-old President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was in “stable” condition after emergency surgery Tuesday for an intracranial hemorrhage and should leave the hospital next week, his doctors said.
Lula was taken late Monday to Brazil’s top medical facility, Hospital Sirio-Libanes in Sao 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 some of Lula’s workload. But Communications Minister Paulo Pimenta said in a radio interview that “we don’t consider it necessary for the president to be formally removed” from his duties.
Lula’s wife, First Lady Rosangela Janja da Silva, said on Instagram: “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.”
A spokesman for the US National Security Council said on X that “we are pleased to hear that his operation this morning went well and wish him a speedy recovery.”
The bleeding was linked to a fall Lula suffered on October 19, the hospital said. Lula 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 hemorrhage.
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 that was shared on social media.
Since then, the Brazilian leader has maintained a busy schedule, including last month hosting the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Brasilia, 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 chemo- 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.
