Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been rushed to an intensive care unit at a hospital in Milan, according to reports.
The billionaire media tycoon, 86, is being treated at San Raffaele hospital, the clinic where he routinely receives care, at least three political sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
He is undergoing cardiac surgery for apparent respiratory problems, Italian media report.
Mr Berlusconi, who made his fortune through his television channels before entering politics, had just visited San Raffaele where his personal physician works, for a regular checkup and was discharged last Thursday.
A day later, on March 31, he tweeted: “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.”
Ringrazio tutti coloro che in questi giorni hanno voluto dedicarmi un pensiero di vicinanza e affetto.
— Silvio Berlusconi (@berlusconi) March 31, 2023
Sono già tornato al lavoro sui temi principali di questi giorni, pronto e determinato a impegnarmi, come sempre ho fatto, per il Paese che amo. pic.twitter.com/RxxrvOF5HJ
The Forza Italia leader has suffered repeated bouts of ill-health in recent years and came out of hospital just last week.
The four-times prime minister had major heart surgery in 2016 to replace an aortic valve and has also overcome prostate cancer.
He has been repeatedly admitted to hospital over the past couple of years after contracting Covid in 2020.
He told reporters after being discharged from a 10-day hospital stay then that disease had been “insidious” and was the most dangerous challenge he had ever faced.
Mr Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party is part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition although he does not have a role in government. Forza Italia pioneered populist politics in Italy in the 1990s.
Mr Berlusconi has stirred controversy in recent months with his criticism of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, putting him at odds with Ms Meloni.
An Italian court acquitted Berlusconi in February over allegations of paying witnesses to lie in an underage prostitution case that has dogged the former prime minister for more than a decade.
He was accused of bribing 24 people, mostly young, female guests at his so-called Bunga Bunga parties, in a previous trial where he was charged with paying for sex with a 17-year-old Moroccan nightclub dancer.
Mr Berlusconi was re-elected to Italy’s parliament in September after nearly a decade of being ousted over tax fraud. He was expelled by the Senate because of a tax fraud conviction linked to his media business in 2013.
