SAO PAULO: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva left intensive care on Friday (Dec 13,) Sao Paulo’s Sirio-Libanes Hospital said in a medical note, as he recovers from two operations earlier this seek to relieve bleeding and prevent any more in his skull.
The 79-year-old Lula is now in “semi-intensive care,” his doctors said in the note, adding that the leftist leader “remains lucid, is eating normally and walked through the hallways.”
Doctors operated on Lula for about two hours on Tuesday to drain bleeding between his brain and meningeal membrane, which they said was linked to a fall at his home in late October.
The president underwent a second procedure on Thursday, a middle meningeal artery embolization, aimed at minimizing the risk of future bleeding. He later had a drain removed from his head without complications.
Lula da Silva declared he was “strong and steady” Friday, in a video of him walking around unassisted after emergency surgery earlier this week.
“Please rest assured. I am strong and steady! I am walking the halls… talking a lot, eating well and, soon, ready to return home and continue working and taking care of every Brazilian family,” he wrote on X and other social media.
The video included in the post showed him walking a hospital corridor with his neurosurgeon, Marcos Stavale.
The president, wearing blue casual wear, sports a bandage on top of his head where the surgery occurred.
In the accompanying message, Lula thanked the public for the prayers and words from well-wishers, passed on by his wife, and said he looked forward to “many meetings in Brazil and around the world” in the coming year.
“Thank you for your affection and for all the dedication of the medical team. The love I receive keeps me always ready to move on!” he wrote.
