Brazil’s Lula well and in good spirits after surgery, doctor says

SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is well and in good spirits after having emergency surgery to drain a bleed on his brain, Lula’s doctor Roberto Kalil Filho told reporters on Wednesday.

Lula “spent the night well” following the surgery, Kalil said, adding that an official medical note would be released later in the day by Sirio-Libanes Hospital, where Lula is hospitalized.

Lula is expected to return to the capital Brasilia by Tuesday or Wednesday next week, Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, the government leader in the Congress, said in an interview with CNN Brasil.

The 79-year-old Brazilian president was recovering in an intensive care unit after being in surgery for about two hours on Tuesday to drain the bleeding between his brain and meningeal membrane, which doctors said was linked to a fall in October.