Argentina’s president to undergo surgery for cerebral blood clot

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner will undergo surgery on Tuesday for a cerebral blood clot that was caused after she fell last August, a Buenos Aires hospital confirmed on Monday.

The 60-year-old president returned to the private Favaloro Foundation Hospital after complaining of severe migraines over the weekend. She was taken there on Saturday where she was diagnosed with having a “chronic subdural hematoma” – a blood clot on the brain's surface beneath its outer covering, which is called the dura – and ordered to rest for a month to allow the clot to be absorbed.

But on Sunday, Fernández de Kirchner, according to the hospital, had a “tingling feeling” in her left arm.

“Due to this symptomatology, our staff went to the presidential residence Los Olivos to proceed to conduct a neurological examination, which demonstrated there was a temporary and light loss of muscle strength in the upper arm,” the hospital said in a statement.

The statement sheds more light on the president’s condition after Argentineans only learned on Saturday that Fernández de Kirchner had suffered a fall last August.

It also answered lingering questions over whether Vice President Amado Boudou will take over the presidency until Fernández de Kirchner recovers. Boudou presided over a ceremony in Buenos Aires on Monday for the delivery of new police vehicles.

After several news websites had begun reporting that the hospital was making arrangements to have Fernández de Kirchner admitted, scores of reporters gathered outside the facility.

The president arrived wearing dark glasses at about 1pm in a gray vehicle.