MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro released from hospital following surgery to remove a bladder stone

Bolsonaro, 65, underwent an edoscopic cystolithotripsy, a minimally invasive surgery that involves using a laser to break up and remove a bladder stone

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was released from the hospital Saturday, the government said, a day after he underwent surgery to remove a bladder stone.

“The president... was released from Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo this afternoon at 1:30pm,” said a brief statement issued by the communications ministry and signed by Bolsonaro's medical team.

Bolsonaro, 65, underwent a procedure known as endoscopic cystolithotripsy, a minimally invasive surgery that involves using a laser to break up and remove a bladder stone. His doctors said the surgery was successful, without complications.

It was the latest in a series of health issues for the far-right leader.

Bolsonaro has undergone various surgeries in recent years, including four stemming from an attack in which he was stabbed in the abdomen during his 2018 presidential campaign.

The stabbing, carried out by an attacker who was ruled to be mentally ill, came just over a month before Bolsonaro was elected.

The president also had a case of COVID-19 in July, putting him in quarantine for nearly three weeks.

That episode did not deter him in his regular attacks on stay-at-home measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic, which he argues are causing economic damage that is worse than the virus itself.