MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro averts chances of emergency surgery

Bolsonaro did not relinquish his position to Vice President General Hamilton Mourao.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Thursday said from his hospital bed in São Paulo that the chances that he might require to undergo surgery were “very remote.”

“This obstruction is always a very high risk, but thank God today the picture has evolved very well, the chances of surgery are very remote,” he said regarding a possible procedure in his intestine where he was stabbed while campaigning for office.

The President spoke to Rede TV channel with surgeon Antonio Luiz Macedo at the Vila Nova Star private hospital in the southern area of São Paulo, where he was flown from Brasilia on Wednesday with severe abdominal pain and persistent hiccups.

”The noise in the abdomen is good, the fluids are good and that obstructed area that presents these adhesions is more permeable which can allow the removal of the gastric tube while (the patient) maintains a fluid diet,” said Doctor Macedo, who has treated Bolsonaro since September 2018 when he was attacked in Minas Gerais before the October elections. Bolsonaro underwent emergency surgery on September 6, 2018, in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, and was operated on again a few days later in São Paulo. Since then, Doctor Macedo has been following up on Bolsonaro.

The assailant was identified as Adelio Bispo de Oliveira, a man with a severe mental disorder and who has been since then in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul state. The Supreme Federal Court (STF) recognized that Bispo is “unimpeachable for mental weakness” but did not grant a request from his defense team to be transferred to a psychiatric hospital.

Despite being hospitalized, Bolsonaro did not relinquish his position to Vice President, General Hamilton Mourao. Instead, the President carried out some official duties from his hospital bed, where he was visited by some of his aides, such as Security Minister General Augusto Heleno and Communications Minister Fabio Faria.