Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was admitted to a military hospital in the capital Brasilia early Wednesday morning, complaining of persistent hiccuping.

Hours later, the president was transferred to a hospital in Sao Paolo for exams to determine whether he must undergo emergency surgery for an intestinal blockage.

The president's office said Dr. Antonio Luiz Macedo, who operated on Bolsonaro after he was stabbed in the abdomen at a 2018 campaign event, ordered the transfer.

Bolsonaro was originally admitted for treatment of persistent hiccuping, which doctors in Brasilia had hoped to find the cause of. Bolsonaro says it has gone on for more than 10 days and began after a dental operation.

Questions about the 66-year-old's health have persisted since he was seriously injured in a stabbing attack on the campaign trail in 2018 — he has since had several bouts of abdominal surgery. 

Later on Wednesday the right-wing firebrand took to Twitter to blame the entire ordeal on his political opponents in the Workers' Party (PT), writing: "One more challenge, a consequence of the assassination attempt promoted by a former affiliate of the PSOL, left wing of the PT, to prevent the victory of millions of Brazilians who wanted changes for Brazil. A cruel attack not only against me, but against our democracy."

Recently, the hiccups visibly impeded the far-right politician's efforts to speak during public events. "I apologize to everyone who is listening to me, because I've been hiccuping for five days now," Bolsonaro said on July 7, for instance, during an interview with Brazil's Radio Guaiba, adding, "I have the hiccups 24 hours a day."

Bolsonaro has faced growing public anger over his disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic. He has consistently dismissed the illness as a "little flu" — he was also infected last year but quickly recovered — and took a lax approach to both lockdowns and vaccine procurement. Brazil has the world's second-highest death toll in gross terms (536,000) behind the United States.

The president's approval ratings have been in free-fall for weeks and he currently trails his likely opponent, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in opinion polls, ahead of next year's presidential election.

js/msh (AFP, AP)