Italian defense minister admitted to hospital over chest pains

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) – Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto was admitted to hospital due to chest pains he had suffered since Monday morning, local media reported on Tuesday.

Citing sources from the San Carlo di Nancy hospital in Rome, the state-run ANSA news agency said the cause of the pains is not known, but could come from pericarditis, an inflammation of the pericardium, the fibrous sac surrounding the heart.

Crosetto, 61, admitted himself to the emergency room, entering on foot, the sources said.

The defense chief, a senior member of Premier Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, immediately had a coronarography and is presently being monitored, they added.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, 70, a fellow NATO member defense chief, on Monday entered the hospital due to an “emergency bladder issue” and transferred his duties to his deputy. He was admitted to the critical care unit, and the length of his stay is unclear, officials said.