Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro hospitalised, reportedly stable

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was rushed to a hospital on Monday morning after he complained of abdominal pain. The President has been admitted to the Vila Nova Star hospital in the city of Sao Paulo, and it is understood that he will not be discharged quickly.

Bolsonaro had been on vacation in the state of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil and had to be flown to Sao Paolo for hospitalisation. Local television network TV Globo showed footage of the 66-year-old president disembarking from the presidential plane on foot along with his entourage at 1.30am local time on Monday, indicating that he was fit enough to walk prior to hospitalisation.

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In a statement, the Vila Nova Star hospital said, “He is in stable condition, undergoing treatment and will be re-evaluated this morning by Doctor Antonio Luiz de Vasconcellos Macedo’s team. At the moment, there is no forecast for him being discharged.”

Reportedly, the president is suffering from an intestinal blockage and according to Dr Antonio Luiz Macedo, Bolsonaro’s doctor, he will undergo several abdomen tests for conclusive evidence of the problem. While the president’s office had said earlier that Bolsonaro had been suffering from abdominal pain, it did not comment on the president’s hospitalisation or its cause.

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Bolsonaro had been stabbed in the stomach during his presidential campaign in 2018 by a man who was deemed to be mentally unfit for trial, and has since suffered several abdominal problems. Following the stabbing, he had been operated on by Dr Macedo, who continues to be his doctor. Reportedly, he has undergone abdominal surgeries at least four times since the incident, and had been hospitalised earlier in July 2021 with an intestinal obstruction arising out of a severe case of chronic hiccups.

A retired military officer and former City Councillor of Rio de Janeiro, Bolsonaro served as the Federal Deputy for Rio de Janeiro before he was elected President in January 2019.