Brazil's Lula released after treatment for inner ear issue

Brasilia: Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been diagnosed with an inflammation of the inner ear after suffering from vertigo, hospital officials in Brasilia said Monday.

Lula, 79, was treated in hospital and has already returned to the country's official presidential residence in the capital city where he is resting.

In a statement, the Sirio-Libanes Hospital said Lula had undergone imaging and blood tests, the results of "which were all normal."

The leftist president, who is expected to run for reelection next year, has a history of medical issues.

On October 19 last year, he fell in the bathroom at the presidential Alvorada Palace, leaving him with a concussion and requiring several stitches.

That accident forced him to cancel a planned trip to Russia to attend a BRICS summit.

Nearly two months later, he underwent surgery in a Sao Paulo hospital after suffering headaches from a brain bleed which stemmed from that fall in October. Lula was discharged on December 15.

He has also suffered from high blood pressure — also known hypertension — survived throat cancer in 2011 and had a prosthetic hip replacement in 2023.

Lula is in his third term as Brazil's president, after serving two mandates between 2003 and 2010.