Sawt Falasteen - Brazil's Lula 'cognitively healthy' after cranial operations

A follow-up operation on Thursday to block blood flow to the affected area was a "success," Lula's doctor, Roberto Kalil, told a news conference at the Hospital Sirio-Libanes, where the 79-year-old president is being treated.

The update came two days after the emergency surgery to drill through Lula's skull to relieve pressure built up in protective intracranial membranes.

The injury was linked to a blow to the head Lula suffered in October, when he fell in a bathroom in his presidential residence.

Lula's doctors stressed on Thursday that he was doing physically and mentally well, was awake and talking, and should be soon returning to his duties.

"If everything continues as it is, at the beginning of next week the president should be discharged" from the Sao Paulo hospital, and "he will gradually resume his normal activity," Kalil said.

He added that, while Lula would be able to work, his convalescence would still require "relative rest over several weeks."

The president's "neurological examination is normal, he is very well," though "he should not exert himself physically or mentally," neurologist Rogerio Tuma added.

- Fall was 'serious' -

Early Thursday, doctors inserted a catheter in Lula's femoral artery to block blood flow going through the middle meningeal artery in Lula's head, to minimize the risk of a hemorrhage reoccurring.

Kalil described the procedure as "routine" and "minimally invasive," carried out under sedation rather than anesthesia. A medical drain inserted Tuesday for the hemorrhage was likely to be removed later Thursday, he said.

The doctor said there were no signs of any complications, and the longer that lasted, the better for Lula's prognosis.

"Every week, every month plays in favor of a patient who has had a brain hemorrhage," he said.

The Brazilian president's medical emergency this week started when he complained Monday of a headache while in Brasilia.

An MRI scan found a hemorrhage between his brain and the dura mater membrane that protects it.

He was rushed to the Hospital Sirio-Libanes -- the country's top medical facility -- where doctors carried out a trepanation, involving drilling through his skull to relieve pressure.

After suffering his fall on October 19, Lula told an official from his Workers' Party that the accident had been "serious".

In the weeks following, the president skipped planned overseas trips. But from mid-November he resumed his active schedule, hosting a G20 summit in Rio and attending a Mercosur summit last week in Uruguay.

Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin has taken over some of Lula's workload in his absence, but the presidency has not officially tapped him to assume the full duties during the president's convalescence.

Lula took up his current mandate in January 2023 after beating the previous, far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, in a tightly fought 2022 election.

His latest medical emergency adds to a list of health problems he has suffered over the years, including treatment in 2011 for throat cancer, and a hip replacement operation last year.

His increasing frailty throws up a question mark over whether he will run for re-election in 2026 elections.

He has left the door open to that possibility, without confirming whether he would be a candidate or not, but there is no obvious figure on the left to take up his torch.

X.Habash--SF-PST