Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will be transferred to a hospital in Sao Paulo for additional tests to determine whether he needs emergency surgery, Brazil's Special Secretariat for Social Communication said Wednesday, according to CNN.
Sources at the presidential palace said that Bolsonaro felt abdominal pain at night, and he was admitted to a hospital in Brasilia to investigate the cause of persistent hiccups.
Dr. Antonio Luiz Macedo, the physician who was responsible for surgeries on Bolsonaro following a knife attack in 2018, found an intestinal obstruction and decided to take him to a hospital in São Paulo, the report said.
Bolsonaro will undergo additional tests to see whether there is a need for emergency surgery.
The President has been complaining for more than a week of hiccups, saying it was causing him difficulties when speaking in public.
During a social media event last Thursday, the President said that he had had hiccups "for over a week" at that point. "I may not be able to express myself properly on this live," he said.
He has suggested the condition may be related to medication he was taking due to surgery for dental implants.
In January 2019, Bolsonaro underwent surgery to remove a colostomy bag fitted after he was stabbed four months earlier on the presidential campaign trail.
Last July, he contracted COVID-19 and has been criticized for his handling of the pandemic.
Last November, Bolsonaro said that he has no intention of being vaccinated against coronavirus and also expressed skepticism over the efficacy of wearing face masks.
In another controversial statement, Bolsonaro suggested that the coronavirus pandemic could be “biological warfare” waged by China.
More recently, he was fined for failing to wear a mask in violation of local pandemic restrictions.