Brazil's Bolsonaro Hospitalized With Abdominal Pain, 'Stable'

Natal, Brazil: Brazil's far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro was "stable" Friday after being hospitalized with severe abdominal pain six years after he barely survived being stabbed in the stomach, doctors said.

The 70-year-old, who is seeking to make a political comeback even as he faces a criminal trial, started feeling "unbearable abdominal pain" at a political event Friday in the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte, a senior member of his Liberal Party said.

He was brought to a local hospital where he was "stabilized," according to right-wing senator Rogerio Marinho, then flown by helicopter to another, bigger facility in the state capital, Natal.

An AFP photographer witnessed Bolsonaro arriving at the Rio Grande Hospital in Natal by ambulance with an intravenous drip, awake and calm.
Television footage had shown him walking to the helicopter, with evident discomfort.

A medical report released to the media said he was admitted with abdominal swelling and pain, but "stable vital signs."

He was undergoing lab tests while receiving intravenous hydration and an antibacterial treatment, it added.

"For now, there is no need for surgery," added Dr Luiz Roberto Leite Fonseca, the hospital's general director.

Bolsonaro has had recurring health problems since September 2018, when an attacker stabbed the then-candidate at a presidential campaign rally in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.

Bolsonaro lost some 40 percent of his blood and underwent emergency surgery after the attack perpetrated by a man later declared mentally unfit to stand trial.

He went on to win that election, serving a single term until 2022 when he lost a runoff to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

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