Brazilian president leaves hospital, speaks publicly for first time since surgeries

SAO PAULO – Doctors discharged Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from the hospital on Sunday, after a pair of emergency surgeries last week to treat and prevent bleeding in his head.

The Brazilian president also spoke publicly for the first time at a hospital press conference, and the doctors said he will continue his recovery from his home in Sao Paulo.

In brief remarks, President Lula said he was eager to get back to work as soon as possible, and his medical team gave him a green light to do so, though they advised him to avoid long-haul international flights and exercise.

“I’m here, whole,” said Lula at Sao Paulo’s Sirio-Libanes Hospital, where he had been receiving care. “I’m healed, I just need to take care of myself.”

The team added that the president will undergo a CT scan on Thursday, a medical procedure used to obtain detailed internal images of the body, before he returns to the capital Brasilia.