Stomach Problem, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Evacuated To Sao Paulo For Surgery

President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro. (Wikimedia Commons/Marcos Brandão/Federal Senate)

JAKARTA - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been transferred to Sao Paulo to have a blocked bowel test and can receive emergency surgery, the Presidential Office said on Wednesday, July 14 local time.

The news about Bolsonaro's health comes as he faces poll results that have left him cornered, because the handling of the coronavirus pandemic is considered less than optimal, making Brazil have the second-highest COVID-19 death case in the world, as well as a vaccine purchase scandal.

Previously, Bolsonaro also had health problems with a chronic case of hiccups, a persistent cough following a COVID-19 infection in 2020, and a series of surgeries following a campaign stabbing shortly before his 2018 election victory.

On his Facebook page, Bolsonaro posted a photo of himself smiling with his eyes closed and lying in a hospital bed covered in sensors and wires. What looked like a priest, with a golden cross, stood beside him, putting his hand on the president's shoulder.

"I thank everyone for their support and prayers," Bolsonaro said in the post.

Bolsonaro went to a military hospital in Brasilia on Wednesday morning, with his office initially saying he would be tested for chronic hiccups.

But later on Wednesday, the Office of the President said Antônio Luiz Macedo, the surgeon who operated on Bolsonaro in 2018, had decided the president should go to Sao Paulo for additional tests to investigate the blocked intestine and possible emergency surgery.

Separately, Brazil's Communications Minister Fábio Faria told a news conference Bolsonaro had been sedated in the morning and would likely travel to the same hospital where he had previously been operated on by Macedo. He said the president's schedule would be removed for 48 hours.

Meanwhile, Bolsonaro's son, Flavio, speaking to CNN Brasil, said the procedure to remove fluid from his father's stomach had been carried out as a precaution. He if his father needed surgery, he had been reassured it would not be a serious operation.

Just after 4:45 p.m., local television images showed the ambulance carrying Bolsonaro leaving the hospital in Brasilia in the presidential motorcade en route to a nearby airbase.

To be known, Bolsonaro nearly died following a stabbing in 2018, which saw him undergo several surgeries.

Recently, Bolsonaro has looked unwell. In a national address on social media last Thursday, he struggled to express himself at one point, and said he had been suffering from hiccups for a week.