(Bloomberg) — Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has been rushed to a Sao Paulo hospital with signs of intestinal obstruction that may require surgical intervention, the latest in a series of health scares following his campaign-trail stabbing in 2018.
The 66-year-old president, who had been vacationing at a beach in the south of the country, tweeted on Monday that he started feeling ill after lunch Sunday. He was flown to Sao Paulo overnight with “abdominal discomfort,” his press office said in a note. The leader said he had received a feeding tube and added that exams are being done to determine whether he’ll need surgery.
Bolsonaro had symptoms of intestinal obstruction, according to a statement signed by the doctor who has been treating him since he nearly died during the 2018 stabbing. The doctor, Antonio Luiz Macedo, is returning early from holidays in the Bahamas.
“He is stable, receiving treatment and his health will be reassessed this morning,” the statement read. “At the moment, there’s no date for his release” from the hospital.
Macedo told Bloomberg News that he needs to personally assess the situation to decide whether an operation would be required, and that he’ll only land in Sao Paulo early on Tuesday. Earlier, he had told Folha de S.Paulo newspaper that “a surgery probably won’t be necessary” as Bolsonaro’s symptoms appear to be similar to those he experienced in July 2021, when he was hospitalized with a bowel blockage and later discharged after receiving treatment.
The president, who’s up for re-election this year, has undergone at least four surgeries related to the stabbing.
Read More: Bolsonaro Faces Calls to End Vacation, Look After Flooded States
He was expected to return to Brasilia on Tuesday. He’s been criticized recently for refusing to cut short his beach vacation after heavy rains devastated parts of the state of Bahia, killing more than 20 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.
(Recasts story with comments from Bolsonaro’s doctor in fifth paragraph.)
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