Former Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa taken to hospital after fainting at Algarve restaurant

Incident at Monte Gordo restaurant

Former Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was taken to Hospital de Faro on Wednesday, August 12, after feeling unwell and briefly losing consciousness at a restaurant in Monte Gordo, in the Algarve region. The episode occurred around 14:30 at Restaurante Recanto, where the former head of state was having lunch during his holidays. According to Jornal de Notícias, Marcelo presented signs of indisposition and lost consciousness for a few seconds while at the restaurant.

An Immediate Life Support ambulance from Vila Real de Santo António was dispatched to the establishment. By the time the emergency team arrived, the former president had already regained consciousness. He was subsequently transported by INEM, Portugal's emergency medical service, to Hospital de Faro, arriving at approximately 15:45. RTP reported that Marcelo admitted feeling "razoavelmente bem" (reasonably well) before being transported. The transport was described as precautionary by multiple sources, including a hospital source cited by Lusa.

Condition and reactions

A medical source contacted by SIC Notícias indicated that the clinical picture should not correspond to a serious situation. The former president was undergoing a series of tests at the hospital but was not admitted as an inpatient. No official cause for the fainting episode has been disclosed, and no connection to any specific health condition has been established.

Prime Minister Luís Montenegro announced on social media that he had spoken by phone with Marcelo, whom he found calm and recovered.

I had the opportunity to speak by phone with President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, whom I found calm, in very good spirits and recovered from the situation that led him to verify, once again, the quality of our National Health Service and the competence of its professionals.

History of medical episodes

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa served as President of Portugal from 2016 to 2026 and completed his second and final consecutive term on March 9, 2026. His clinical history includes several episodes of indisposition and fainting during his presidency, as well as operations on three hernias. In December 2017, he was admitted urgently and operated on for an umbilical hernia at Hospital Curry Cabral in Lisbon, after an incarceration forced the surgery planned for January 2018 to be brought forward. The procedure was performed by Eduardo Barroso, the hospital's service director and a childhood friend of the then head of state.

In June 2018, Marcelo felt unwell upon leaving Bom Jesus Basilica in Braga and was examined at Hospital de Braga, where he was diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis. The diagnosis was attributed to strong temperatures reaching 37 degrees in the district. In October 2019, he underwent a cardiac catheterization at Hospital de Santa Cruz in Oeiras that confirmed important coronary obstructions, treated successfully during the same procedure. In December 2021, he was operated on for bilateral inguinal hernias at Hospital das Forças Armadas in Lumiar, with the surgical bulletin noting the procedure proceeded without complications and with total stability.

In 2023, Marcelo was hospitalized after fainting during a visit to a laboratory at the Faculty of Science and Technology of Universidade Nova de Lisboa, on the Costa da Caparica. He later explained the hospital visit resulted from a sudden drop in blood pressure. Expresso reported that the 2023 episode was attributed to the heat, the fact that the then president had not eaten lunch, and having consumed a glass of moscatel. On December 1, 2025, while still serving as head of state, Marcelo spent three days hospitalized at Hospital de São João in Porto following a digestive arrest and underwent hernia surgery.