Portuguese President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, was rushed to the Santa Cruz Hospital in Carnaxide after passing out during a visit this afternoon to the Science and Technology Faculty in Caparica.
The official statement provided by the Presidency of the Republic at around 3:45 pm was that “the President of the Republic felt unwell after a visit to the Faculty of Sciences of the New University of Lisbon and went to the Hospital de Santa Cruz as a precautionary measure.”
Marcelo, who allegedly had a light lunch, experienced hypovolemia and displayed dizziness, nausea, and extreme fatigue, reports Correio da Manhã tabloid.
Prime Minister António Costa revealed that he has already spoken with Marcelo and expressed hope that everything “was just a scare.”
“There’s no point in asking the President of the Republic to slow down; it’s not in his nature,” said the PM.
“I called the chief of staff, and to my surprise, it was the President who answered. He’s in good spirits and hopeful to leave the hospital,” he revealed, before sharing Marcelo’s “optimism” regarding his health condition.
This is the second time Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has fainted in public in intense heat. In 2018, during a visit to the sanctuary of Bom Jesus in Braga, the president fainted after suffering from acute food poisoning, which led to dehydration.
Update: President Marcelo has left hospital, in excellent spirits. All tests have come back to show this incident was nothing more than a fall in blood pressure, very possibly due to a gruelling schedule (as always) in intense heat. The president has told reporters that he felt “exactly the same as I did in Braga”, when he collapsed in 2018. He added that he has been told to “drink more water, which I really hardly ever drink…”
