Italy
Berlusconi hospitalized for chronic leukemia
Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi – seen here in a photo
© Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via ZUMA Press/dpa
Italy’s ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is in an intensive care unit in Milan. Relatives and companions are very concerned about the 86-year-old.
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is being treated in hospital for pneumonia and blood cancer. The treating doctors confirmed on Thursday that the 86-year-old is in the intensive care unit of the San Raffaele clinic in Milan. Accordingly, he has been suffering from what is known as chronic myeloid leukemia for some time. So that the pneumonia does not have a too severe effect on the blood cancer, the politician is being treated as an inpatient, it was also said.
According to the doctors, no signs of an acute worsening of the leukemia have been found so far. Italian media such as the Ansa and Adnkronos news agencies had previously reported that Berlusconi had started chemotherapy in the clinic. His doctor Alberto Zangrillo did not comment on this in the bulletin.
The right-wing populist politician, who headed four governments with interruptions from 1994 to 2011, was admitted to the San Raffaele clinic in Milan on Wednesday. Initially, there was talk of cardiovascular and respiratory problems.
“He’s a Rock”
As can be seen in the pictures, Berlusconi’s children Marina and Luigi and his brother Paolo arrived at the clinic in the northern Italian metropolis on Thursday. His brother and sister, children and his partner Marta Fascina had already visited the ex-head of government on Wednesday in the hospital. On leaving the clinic, the brother said: “His condition is stable, he is a rock.”
Italy’s Foreign Minister and Deputy Head of Forza Italia Antonio Tajani said on Italian television on Thursday morning that Berlusconi’s condition was stable and that he had had a “quiet night”. “We hope that the lion will come back soon. He never gives up,” said Tajani. “We remain optimistic.”
Political companions wished the entrepreneur and chairman of the governing party Forza Italia a speedy recovery. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wished him “a speedy recovery”. “Forza, Silvio!” She wrote on Twitter. When Berlusconi’s name was called out with the comment “absent” during a vote in the Senate on Wednesday evening, applause broke out among the deputies.
Berlusconi has had health problems for years
Berlusconi was released from the Milan clinic only last Thursday after a four-day stay. Officially, there was talk of routine examinations at the time. According to reports, Berlusconi has already been treated for cardiovascular problems.
Berlusconi has been ill for years. At the end of 2020 he fell ill with corona and pneumonia, years before that he had to be hospitalized for a urinary tract infection. In 2016 he underwent heart surgery.