Maradona leaves hospital after 12 days in intensive care
Argentina football star Diego Maradona has checked out of hospital following 12 days in intensive care for heart and lung problems.
The 43-year-old Argentine soccer great departed the Suizo-Argentina hospital in near-secrecy, leaving in a car with tinted windows yesterday. He left to seek “more personalised treatment” from his own doctor, his medical team said in a statement.
Maradona – who led Argentina to the 1986 World Cup – was reportedly taken to a country home of a friend in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, the news agency Diarios y Noticias said.
Outside the hospital in Buenos Aires, dozens of fans chanted “Ole! Ole! Ole!” and unfurled a large white banner with Maradona’s picture, and the message, “God exists.”
As news spread that Maradona had left, other well-wishers honked their horns as they drove by.
Maradona’s exit came after a string of upbeat medical reports – but just one day after his medical team said he would remain in intensive care for at least a few extra days “to help speed up his recovery”.
He spent much of last week listed in a critical condition, breathing with the help of a respirator and under heavy sedation.
Maradona was rushed to a hospital on April 18 complaining of chest pains and fever. It was his second emergency hospitalisation in recent years.
On Tuesday, Maradona was on his feet for the first time, walking around his hospital room. He watched on TV as Argentina beat Morocco 1-0 in a friendly on Wednesday.
Maradona’s family has said drug problems had nothing to do with his current hospital spell.
Four years ago, Maradona relocated to Cuba, where he has been undergoing drug rehabilitation for cocaine addiction. He returned to Argentina on personal business over a month ago.
In January 2000, he was taken to hospital in Uruguay and diagnosed with a severe heart condition and later sought medical help in Cuba.
In his 20-year career before retiring in 1997, Maradona also led Argentina to the 1990 World Cup final, and won Italian and Argentine league titles. In 2000, Fifa chose him and Pele as the best players in soccer history.
But drug and medical problems have cast a shadow over his career.
Maradona was suspended from the Italian league while playing for Napoli in 1991 for 15 months following a positive test for cocaine. Three years later, Fifa suspended him for 15 months following a positive drug test at the World Cup finals in the US.
For days, fans and admirers have stood vigil outside the private clinic, joining local reporters awaiting daily updates on Maradona’s progress. Hundreds of fans have taped hundreds of get-well messages to the wall of the clinic.
