MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula says he is “firm and strong”

In the video footage posted on social media, Lula appears walking next to brain surgeon Marcos Stavale

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva released a video Friday after leaving the Intensive Care Unit at the Sírio-Libanês Hospital in São Paulo, Agencia Brasil reported. Lula underwent two surgical procedures in his head this week to drain a hemorrhage caused by a domestic accident in October that prevented him from attending the BRICS Summit in Russia, among other engagements.

Lula also thanked the “prayers and words of comfort” he received in recent days. due to the health treatment he has been undergoing. In the video footage posted on social media, he appears walking next to brain surgeon Marcos Stavale.

“Janjinha [the first lady, Janja Lula da Silva] gave me all the messages. I ask you to stay calm. I'm strong and steady! Walking the corridors [...], talking a lot, eating well and, soon, ready to go home and continue working and taking care of every Brazilian family,” wrote Lula. The year “2025 is coming and we have many meetings around Brazil and the world. Thank you for your affection and for all the dedication of the medical team. The love I receive always keeps me ready to go!,” he added.

He is expected to be discharged next week. The medical team, led by Lula's head physician Roberto Kalil says that the president's neurological examination was normal but was advised nonetheless to observe “relative rest” in the coming weeks.

On October 19, Lula fell in the bathroom of his official residence, hit his head, and needed five stitches in the back of his head. Since then, he has undergone several tests that showed a small intracranial hemorrhage.

Last Monday night, he felt headaches and, after tests carried out at Sírio-Libanês in Brasília, he was transferred to the hospital's unit in São Paulo, where he underwent emergency surgery on Tuesday to drain the hematoma. On Thursday morning, he also underwent an endovascular procedure (embolization of the middle meningeal artery) to reduce the risk of a new hematoma in the region between the skull and the brain. Lula has now left the ICU and remains in semi-intensive care.

Kalil guaranteed that there was no new bleeding after the drainage and that the procedure performed Thursday was of a preventive nature. “At no time did he have any brain damage,” Kalil stressed. The president is already “talking, eating and walking here and there,” he also pointed out while insisting that there was no sequel and Lula was deemed “cognitively intact.”