Berlusconi's treatment for infection continues in hospital

The doctors caring for former Premier Silvio Berlusconi in a Milan hospital, where he is recovering from a lung infection, say his treatment continues now that he is out of intensive care

Italy Berlusconi (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The doctors caring for former Premier Silvio Berlusconi in a Milan hospital, where he was admitted with a lung infection. said Monday that his treatment continues now that he is out of intensive care.

His longtime personal physician, Alberto Zangrillo, and a hospital blood cancer specialist, Fabio Ciceri, signed off on the brief medical bulletin a day after the media mogul was transferred from the ICU at San Raffaele hospital to a regular-care section.

Berlusconi, 86, was hospitalized on April 5. Days later, doctors revealed he has chronic leukemia as well as the lung infection.

The latest medical bulletin gave no hint at when Berlusconi might be discharged. It said that “at the moment, the clinical status and the response to treatment allowed for the transfer” out of ICU. “The treatment and monitoring of functional parameters continue," it said.

The Forza Italia party he founded three decades ago is a partner in the coalition government of far-right Premier Giorgia Meloni. Berlusconi holds no Cabinet post, although he has a Senate seat.

The former three-time premier and one of Italy's richest businessmen, Berlusconi has been dogged by medical problems over the years. He has suffered serious heart problems, and in 2020 was admitted to the same Milan hospital, in critical condition, for treatment of COVID-19.