Medical team in São Paulo rules out emergency surgery on Brazil’s President Bolsonaro

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President should remain in intense “conservative clinical treatment”, initially without the need for surgery. A note released reported that clinical, laboratory and imaging evaluations have already been made

The medical team of Vila Nova Star hospital, in São Paulo, informed on Wednesday night, 14, that President Jair Bolsonaro should remain in intense “conservative clinical treatment”, initially without the need for surgery. The  note released Wednesday night also reported that the president will undergo a new battery of clinical and laboratory tests on Thursday (15).

With an intestinal obstruction and pain in the abdomen, the president was admitted early Wednesday night to Vila Nova Star hospital in São Paulo after being hospitalized in Brasilia throughout the day, where he underwent a series of tests at the Armed Forces Hospital.

Doctor Antônio Luiz Macedo, who was responsible for operating on the president at the end of 2018 – when Bolsonaro suffered a stab wound during his election campaign – decided on the transfer to São Paulo capital after analyzing Bolsonaro’s clinical picture.

“Every situation of intestinal obstruction has its gravity. He will be closely monitored, especially with clinical examination, which is the most important thing in this situation,” said Macedo, in an interview with Jovem Pan radio. “Many times with fasting, hydration, and medication the condition reverts without the need for surgery.”

Bolsonaro has already undergone several surgeries as a result of the stabbing he received on September 6, 2018, in Juiz de Fora, Minas. Since last week, the president had been complaining of a hiccup crisis.

The discomfort became clear in last Thursday’s weekly live. On that occasion, Bolsonaro even apologized at the very beginning of the broadcast. “I apologize. I’ve had hiccups for a week, maybe I can’t express myself properly.”

The health condition suspends the entire schedule Bolsonaro would have for the next few days.

CHRONIC HICCUPS

Bolsonaro, 66, was hospitalized in the early hours of the morning at the Hospital das Forças Armadas (HFA), in Brasilia, on the advice of the medical team to determine the origin of a chronic hiccup crisis that had been affecting the president for several days, according to a note from the Social Communication Secretariat (Secom). According to Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the president, his father was even taken to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and needed to be intubated.

“He actually went to an Intensive Care Unit to stay under observation, with better care. He was intubated, yes, to prevent him from bronchoaspirating the liquid that was coming from his stomach. This had already happened in a previous surgery he had,” said the president’s son in an interview to Jovem Pan radio.

The decision to take Bolsonaro from Brasilia to the Vila Nova Star hospital in São Paulo was made by surgeon Antonio Macedo, who operated on Bolsonaro a few times after the emergency surgery he underwent at Santa Casa de Juiz de Fora (MG) shortly after being stabbed during a 2018 election campaign event.

“After exams performed at the HFA, in Brasilia, Dr. Macedo, the doctor responsible for the surgeries in the abdomen of the President, resulting from the stabbing attack that occurred in 2018, found an intestinal obstruction and decided to take him to São Paulo, where he will undergo complementary exams to define the need, or not, of an emergency surgery,” said the Secom note.

After the release of the government note, Bolsonaro said on his Twitter account that he faces a new challenge resulting from the knife attack he suffered during the election campaign. “One more challenge, a consequence of the assassination attempt,” the president wrote in the tweet.

In a post with a photo of him in bed at the HFA, Bolsonaro stated, “We will be back soon, God willing.”