Home Foreign News Silvio Berlusconi: Former Italian prime minister diagnosed with leukaemia | World News

Silvio Berlusconi: Former Italian prime minister diagnosed with leukaemia | World News

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Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been diagnosed with leukaemia after he was admitted to hospital, Sky News understands.

The 86-year-old was being treated in intensive care at Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital on Wednesday after suffering breathing problems.

A source said the four-time prime minister had been diagnosed with leukaemia and is in a stable condition.

A view shows the intensive care unit at 'San Raffaele' hospital where former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is hospitalised in Milan, Italy
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The intensive care unit at San Raffaele Hospital

“He’s stable. He’s a rock,” Mr Berlusconi’s brother Paolo said after visiting him on Wednesday afternoon.

The billionaire media tycoon has suffered several bouts of ill health in recent years, including contracting COVID-19 in 2020.

After being discharged from a 10-day hospital stay, he said the disease had been “insidious” and was the most dangerous challenge he had ever faced.

He has had a pacemaker for years, underwent heart surgery to replace an aortic valve in 2016 and has overcome prostate cancer. He was admitted for a reported urinary tract infection in January 2022.

Mr Berlusconi stepped down as prime minister for the last time in 2011 as Italy came close to a Greece-style debt crisis and he faced several scandals, most notably around his notorious “bunga bunga” parties.

He returned to the Senate after a general election last September.

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FILE - Forza Italia's Silvio Berlusconi, and Brothers of Italy's Giorgia Meloni attend the center-right coalition closing rally in Rome Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022. Italy...s President Sergio Mattarella started formal consultations with political leaders Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022, with the aim of quickly giving the country a new government, which is expected to be the country's first led by the far right since the end of World War II. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
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Mr Berlusconi and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni

‘Forza Silvio’

Mr Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party is part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition, but he does not have a role in government.

“Sincere and affectionate wishes for a speedy recovery to Silvio Berlusconi,” Ms Meloni wrote on social media, adding: “Forza Silvio (Come on Silvio).”



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