Brazil's Bolsonaro rushed to hospital with probable intestinal blockage

Brazil’s Bolsonaro rushed to hospital with probable intestinal blockage

By : AFP

Date: 3 January 2022 1:57pm WAT

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro delivers a speech during the taking office ceremony of his new Chief of Staff Ciro Nogueira at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, on August 4, 2021. - A Supreme Court justice ruled on Wednesday President Jair Bolsonaro should be investigated for unproven claims Brazil's electronic voting system is riddled with fraud, adding the far-right leader to an ongoing probe on the spread of fake news by his government. (Photo by EVARISTO SA / AFP)

[FILE] Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro delivers a speech during the taking office ceremony of his new Chief of Staff Ciro Nogueira at Planalto Palace in Brasilia. (Photo by EVARISTO SA / AFP)

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was rushed to hospital early Monday morning for treatment of a probable intestinal obstruction, local media reported.

Bolsonaro, 66, who has been in power since 2019, was taken to Vila Nova Star hospital in Sao Paulo.

TV Globo showed images of him disembarking from the presidential plane on foot with his entourage.

Doctor Antonio Luiz Macedo, who has operated on Bolsonaro on other occasions, told news site UOL that the president would undergo several tests to examine his abdomen.

Neither the presidential press service nor the hospital has yet responded to requests for information by AFP.

In July, Bolsonaro spent four days receiving treatment for an intestinal obstruction.

Since a knife attack that targeted him during a 2018 election campaign, in which he was stabbed in the stomach, he has undergone abdominal surgery at least four times.

About a month before he was elected president, Bolsonaro was stabbed at a campaign rally by a man who was found to be psychologically unfit for trial.