His doctors express “cautious optimism”. Still in intensive care since April 5, Silvio Berlusconi began his treatment with chemotherapy in a famous hospital in Milan.
[Updated April 7, 2023, 2:55 p.m.] Silvio Berlusconi’s health is being closely monitored in Italy. These doctors claim to have seen during “the last forty-eight hours a gradual and stable improvement in the monitoring of organic functions.”
The former Italian Prime Minister is still being treated in an intensive care unit in a hospital in Milan since April 7, 2023. Health professionals believe that the treatment is having “the expected effects, which allows us to express a cautious optimism”.
The former head of government has had a string of health problems and the whole country has been following his comings and goings to the hospital for months. While the 86-year-old man had already been taken care of in a health establishment for three days at the end of March, he had to be hospitalized in an emergency on Wednesday April 5. “The Immortal” started chemotherapy to treat chronic leukemia, as reported by Corriere della Sera, which reflects a critical medical situation.
The Italian media, which covers this news continuously, reported that his daughter Marina, his son Luigi and his brother Paolo had come to his bedside at Saint Raphael Hospital in Milan, one of the most prestigious medical establishments of the “Boot”. His wife Marta Fascina, younger than her 53-year-old husband, was also spotted in Milan.
Silvio Berlusconi has leukemia common to people his age according to the Ansa news agency. She adds that the chosen therapy is minimally invasive.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, from the Forza Italia party founded by the “Cavaliere”, told Rai Uno on April 7 that he was confident he had met his doctor: “He told me that Silvio Berlusconi had passed a quiet night and that his condition was stable”. But a few hours later, this version opposed Berlusconi’s doctors’ statement, which made public “chronic myelomonocytic leukemia from which he has suffered for some time”. A relative of Berlusconi, Vittorio Sgarbi, Deputy Minister of Culture, reacted to this announcement: “We are all very concerned. I hope he will have the strength to resist this last blow which has a sinister name, the leukemia”.
The Ansa news agency, via sources around him, revealed that Berlusconi’s chemotherapy began on Wednesday April 5 in order to fight against this leukemia. Last Thursday, after the last hospitalization, Berlusconi said he was in good shape. Giorgia Meloni, the President of the Council of Ministers of Italy, sent him this message of support on Twitter: “A sincere and affectionate wish for a speedy recovery to Silvio Berlusconi, hospitalized at San Raffaele in Milan. Come on, Silvio.” The leader of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia group heads a coalition of which Berlusconi’s Forza Italia is a member.
Silvio Berlusconi had also been hospitalized in January 2022, for a serious urinary tract infection which had prompted his doctors to have him undergo a series of heavy treatments. In September 2020, he had contracted Covid 19 and developed bilateral pneumonia. In June 2016, he had also been operated on the aortic valve, in an open heart operation. After almost 30 years of political career, “the caiman” hardly appears in public anymore in the face of these many health concerns.
Short biography of Silvio Berlusconi – Silvio Berlusconi quickly showed his talents as a businessman and created a huge financial group, Fininvest, in 1977. He then built a veritable media empire and invested in many sectors (banking, insurance, football , distribution). It was in 1994 that he decided to get into politics by creating the Forza Italia party. The latter wasted no time in allying himself with right-wing and far-right parties. Leading this coalition, which won the legislative elections, Berlusconi found himself President of the Council, a position from which he had to resign in December 1994. However, the man did not let go and, despite the convictions for corruption, he always tried to strengthen his left. His new right-wing coalition, the House of Liberties, emerged victorious from the legislative elections of 2001 and brought him to power in June. The ultra-liberal policy that he leads is still tainted by the legal proceedings against Fininvest. After a temporary resignation, he formed a new government but lost the 2006 parliamentary elections, against Romano Prodi (left). He returned to power once again in 2008. A new scandal, the “Rubygate” pushed him aside once again in 2011. However, his influence remains major in Italian political life since his party is now a member of the coalition at the head of Italy.
