Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro recovering, says will be 'back in action soon'

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is undergoing treatment for intestinal obstruction, on July 16 said that he hoped to be “back in action soon”. Bolsonaro was taken to a military hospital in Brasilia before he was transferred to Vila Nova Star private hospital in Sao Paulo on July 14. The 66-year-old was diagnosed to be suffering from an “intestinal obstruction” and on Wednesday, the hospital decided to start with a “conservative clinical treatment”. 

Now, the doctors have said that the Brazilian President is improving, with an operation less likely. On Friday, Bolsonaro even tweeted a stern-faced photo of himself, walking along a hospital corridor with a drip attached to his neck. “Back in action soon, God willing! We’ve done a lot, but we still have a lot to do for our Brazil,” Bolsonaro wrote. 

On Thursday, the president’s doctors said in a statement that they had removed a gastric catheter from Bolsonaro and that he would begin eating again on Friday. The hospital said that Bolsonaro in its care was “evolving satisfactorily” and added that the Brazilian President will continue to remain admitted with “no discharge schedule”. Even though there are no plans to operate the far-right leader, if the hospital decides to change the decision, it would be Bolsonaro’s seventh surgery since he was stabbed during a rally in 2018 in the abdomen.

Bolosonaro’s chronic hiccups 

It is worth mentioning that Bolsonaro’s admission to the hospital came after he appeared to have been struggling with his constant hiccups. In an interview with Radio Gaiba on July 7, Bolsonaro had said, “I apologize to everyone who is listening to me because I’ve been hiccupping for five days now.” Further suggesting that medications after dental surgery might be the cause, he had also informed, “I have the hiccups 24 hours a day”. 

Even on July 8, during his weekly Facebook Live session, Bolsonaro had apologised for not being able to express himself without getting interrupted by his hiccups. As per The Associated Press, Dr Anthony Lembo, a gastroenterologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston has said that chronic hiccups are usually a manifestation of an underlying such as obstructed intestine that eventually requires surgery. In other cases, a part of the intestine might have also be ejected.

(Image: AP)