The billionaire former prime minister said he would "make it" and beat the lung infection caused by cancer that has seen him hospitalized in an intensive care unit since Wednesday.Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi believed he would "make it once again" out of the hospital, Italian daily il Giornale reported Friday.

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The billionaire three-time prime minister was taken to the hospital on Wednesday for a respiratory problem stemming from a previous infection.

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His doctors on Thursday signed off on a medical bulletin saying that he has had leukemia for some time but that the cancer of the blood cells has been in a "persistent chronic phase."

"It's hard, but I'll make it once again," Berlusconi said in a phone call with il Giornale Editor-in-Chief Augusto Minzolini.

"I managed, also in delicate and difficult situations, to pull myself up," Berlusconi added, according to the report.

The 86-year-old media mogul was admitted to an intensive care unit at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan, where his personal physician works. He was at the hospital for a regular checkup for several days just last week.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, a close ally of Berlusconi, said Friday that Berlusconi was alert and responding to the treatment at the hospital.

Meloni wishes him speedy recovery

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni tweeted "Forza Silvio" meaning "Come on Silvio," echoing the name of the political party he formed in the early 1990s.

Berlusconi remains at the helm of the center-right Forza Italia, which is a junior party in the current government headed by Meloni.

Berlusconi’s brother Paolo said he was "a rock" after visiting him in hospital on Wednesday.

The controversial politician has been in and out of the hospital since he contracted COVID-19 in 2020.

rm/jcg (AP, AFP)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 08, 2023 12:20 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).