Bolsonaro Is Improving but No Decision on Surgery, Hospital Says

(Bloomberg) -- Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro's condition has improved and he has no fever or abdominal pain, according to a statement from the Sao Paulo hospital where he's being treated for a possible intestinal obstruction, the latest in a series of complications stemming from his campaign-trail stabbing in 2018.

The 66-year-old president, who had been vacationing at a beach in the south of the country, tweeted Monday that he started feeling ill after lunch Sunday. The president was flown to Sao Paulo overnight with “abdominal discomfort,” his press office said in a note. Bolsonaro took a short walk and there is still no decision regarding the need for surgery, Sao Paulo's Vila Nova Star hospital said late Monday.

Bolsonaro had symptoms of intestinal obstruction, according to a statement earlier Monday signed by the doctor who's been treating him since his near-fatal 2018 stabbing. The doctor, Antonio Luiz Macedo, is returning early from holidays in the Bahamas.

Macedo told Bloomberg News that he needs to personally assess the situation to decide whether an operation would be required, and that he'll only land in Sao Paulo early on Tuesday. Earlier, he had told Folha de S.Paulo newspaper that “a surgery probably won't be necessary” as Bolsonaro's symptoms appear to be similar to those he experienced in July 2021, when he was hospitalized with an intestinal blockage and later discharged after receiving treatment.

The president, who's up for re-election this year, has undergone at least four surgeries related to the stabbing.

He was expected to return to Brasilia on Tuesday. He's been criticized recently for refusing to cut short his beach vacation after heavy rains devastated parts of the state of Bahia, killing more than 20 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.