MILAN – Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was urgently admitted to the hospital in Monaco due to heart problems, his personal doctor told Reuters on Thursday.
Alberto Zangrillo said he saw Berlusconi on Monday and decided to transfer him to a nearby hospital because he did not think it prudent to bring him to Italy, which is 10 miles from the small city-state.
The Italian news agency ANSA was the first to spread the news. It was not clear whether the health emergency was overcome, but Berlusconi later said in a statement that he was “in good health”.
“Due to the prudence of my doctors, I had to go to the hospital to do some tests,” he said, adding that he was in contact with his team as Italy deals with the political crisis that threatens to topple the cabinet led by Giuseppe Conte in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
The 84-year-old media tycoon underwent major cardiac surgery in 2016 and also survived prostate cancer.
Last September, he was hospitalized after contracting the coronavirus. He later told reporters that the virus represented “the most dangerous challenge” of his life. Berlusconi spent much of his time recovering at his daughter Marina’s house in Provence, southeastern France.
Berlusconi also remains the leader of the opposition Forza Italia party. His illness comes as Italy is hit by political chaos after a junior coalition party resigned from the government, depriving it of a majority in parliament.
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The newspapers speculated that some Forza Italia lawmakers might agree to leave the party’s ranks and help support Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to avoid early elections.
Shares in Mediaset, a broadcaster controlled by the Berlusconi family, rose by 2.9 percent on Thursday after initial reports of his latest health scare.
Traders cited speculation about possible ownership changes in the group if Berlusconi’s condition worsened.
Mediaset has been at the center of a legal battle between the Berlusconi family that controls Fininvest and its second largest shareholder, French media giant Vivendi, for the past five years.