Berlusconi begins chemotherapy

Former Italian Prime Minister and Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi has started chemotherapy to fight leukemia, news agencies ANSA and AGI report.

The treatment takes place in the Milan clinic "San Raffaele". The first procedure took place on April 5, ANSA clarifies. Doctors assess Berlusconi's condition as stable.

In the morning, Corriere della Sera reported that Berlusconi was diagnosed with leukemia and that this disease was the reason for his hospitalization on March 27. He was supposed to be discharged the next day, but was left in the hospital until March 30. Berlusconi at that time was undergoing not only a routine examination, but also treatment, the publication clarified.

On April 5, the former prime minister was hospitalized again. Italian Foreign Minister and Forza Italia coordinator Antonio Tajani said at the time that Berlusconi was in intensive care due to an "unresolved issue" during his last hospitalization with pneumonia. Corriere della Sera writes that "the pains that bother him [Berlusconi] and the pneumonia of the last days are actually complications that can arise in an already weakened body."

Berlusconi is 86 years old. In 2016, he was hospitalized due to heart failure and underwent heart surgery. Three years later, the politician again ended up in the hospital with renal colic. In 2020, the politician was diagnosed with coronavirus and bilateral pneumonia, and the following year he fell ill with COVID-19 again .