Former Italy prime minister Silvio Berlusconi diagnosed with leukaemia, battling lung infection
Berlusconi has leukaemia
Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been diagnosed with leukaemia, reports emerging from the country said on Thursday. Just a day earlier, he was admitted to the intensive care unit of a hospital in Milan with breathing problems. The 86-year-old media baron is being treated in a cardiac unit of Milan's San Raffaele hospital.
Doctors say Berlusconi is being treated for a lung infection and has a “chronic blood condition” that is a kind of leukaemia.
Berlusconi’s personal physician, Alberto Zangrillo, signed off on a medical bulletin issued on Thursday afternoon that said Berlusconi “has had for some time” leukaemia in a “persistent chronic phase.”
The 86-year-old media mogul who served three terms as Italy’s premier and now serves in the Senate was admitted to Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital on Wednesday for treatment of what aides indicated was a respiratory problem stemming from a previous infection.
The publication Corriere della Sera daily confirmed that Berlusconi has been diagnosed with leukaemia, a cancer of the blood cells.
According to the Italian news agency Ansa, Berlusconi has started chemotherapy at the hospital. He is in stable condition, the report added.
Berlusconi's daughter Marina and son Luigi reached the hospital on Thursday but did not speak with the reporters.
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Berlusconi's Forza Italia party is part of the right-wing coalition headed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. However, he has no role in the government.
"I spoke this morning with Professor (Alberto) Zangrillo (Berlusconi's personal doctor) and he told me that Berlusconi spent a quiet night, his condition is stable," Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani told RAI state television.
"We all want to be optimistic and we hope that the lion will return soon to take charge of the party. He's our political leader and of course, he never gives up," Tajani told the broadcaster.
Berlusconi had earlier spent four days at the same hospital before being discharged last week on March 30. Italian news reports suggest that he is suffering from heart issues also.
Earlier, after the pandemic hit, he was hospitalised for Covid-related pneumonia in September 2020. Later he developed complications linked to Covid and was admitted several times the next year.
Berlusconi had an open heart surgery in 2016 and surgery on his intestine three years later. He has also had prostate cancer.
(With inputs from agencies)
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