Former Italian PM Berlusconi will soon be discharged from hospital, party says

[March 24, 2021]    ROME (Reuters) - Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi will soon be able to leave the hospital where he was admitted last Monday for a routine check-up, his Forza Italia party said on Wednesday.

Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi takes out his face mask and waves as he arrives at Montecitorio Palace for talks on forming a new government, in Rome, Italy, February 9, 2021. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

"Berlusconi is currently hospitalized at San Raffaele (in Milan) for routine clinical monitoring and adjustment to ongoing therapy. He will be discharged shortly," the party said.

Before being taken to San Raffaele hospital, the 84-year-old media tycoon was staying at his house in the small town of Arcore, close to Milan, a party source said.

"He will need to rest for a while," the source said.

Berlusconi was unable to attend a court hearing in Milan on Wednesday morning for a judicial case in which he is involved.

Last January, Berlusconi was hospitalized in Monaco due to heart problems and in September he survived COVID-19, which he defined as "the most dangerous challenge of his life".

He underwent major heart surgery in 2016 and has also suffered prostate cancer.

Berlusconi has spent much of his time recuperating from COVID-19 at his daughter Marina's house in Provence, in southeast France.

(Reporting by Angelo Amante and Elvira Pollina; Editing by Crispian Balmer, Catherine Evans and Gareth Jones)

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