Ex-Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, 86, in intensive care with heart problems after hospital dash
FORMER Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been rushed to intensive care after suffering from heart problems.
The billionaire media mogul, 86, who has been in and out of the hospital in recent years, is currently in Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital.
Reports claim he was admitted on Wednesday morning and his current condition was “stable”.
Berlusconi reportedly spent four days at the same hospital last week for treatment, according to news agency Ansa.
Local media said that the leader of the right-wing Forza Italia party was suffering from heart issues and was discharged on March 30.
The politician shared a tweet thanking people for their concern alongside a snap of him smiling at home.
Berlusconi wrote: “I have already returned to work on the main themes of these days, ready and determined to commit myself, as I always have, to the country I love.”
His party is a key part of prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s conservative government.
The billionaire’s latest hospital dash comes after a series of health scares in recent years.
Berlusconi hospitalised for Covid-related pneumonia in September 2020, but later recovered.
However, the following year he was admitted several times for complications stemming from the deadly virus.
Berlusconi was forced to undergo open heart surgery in 2016 and surgery on his intestine three years later.
The four-time prime minister, who is fitted with a pacemaker, has also overcome prostate cancer.
But his time in office hasn’t been without controversy, as the party-loving former leader is well known for his sex scandals and eyebrow-raising jokes.
Berlusconi – who is in a relationship with Forza Italia MP Marta Fascina, 33 – allegedly held “Bunga Bunga” bashes at his villa.
He was accused, but later acquitted, of paying young women for “silence and lies” surrounding the infamous gatherings, which he always insisted were simply elegant dinners.
The ex-PM, who previously described himself as the “Jesus Christ of politics”, also landed himself in hot water in 2010.
It was alleged that the lothario had abused his position of power to protect a young Moroccan nightclub dancer who was arrested.
Police detained Karima El-Mahroug, known by her stage name ‘Ruby the Heart Stealer’, for theft – but she was released after Berlusconi claimed she was the niece of then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
He was charged with paying her for sex when she was just 17 and was found guilty, until he was acquitted in 2014.
An appeals court ruled there was no proof he knew El-Mahroug was a minor.
Berlusconi was also temporarily banned from politics after a conviction of tax fraud in 2013.
He served a community sentence and muscled his way back into the spotlight before being re-elected as a senator last year.