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Maradona leaves hospital after 13 days
BUENOS AIRES (AFP) - Argentine football legend Diego Maradona checked out of a private hospital early Wednesday after 13 days of treatment for alcohol abuse, medical officials said in a statement.
The former Argentina captain and Barcelona and Napoli star, 46, was discharged a few minutes after midnight accompanied by family members.
A medical report distributed to the media said that Maradona "was given a clean bill of health on this day," but added that his condition required medical and dietary treatment to continue after his release.
Earlier, his personal doctor Alfredo Cahe said he was not fully recovered from hepatitis which developed from drinking too much.
"We cannot give him a full clean bill of health, because that is far down the road," Cahe told reporters.
However, he said, "Diego has woken up and has just now entered into analysis of his true problems."
A family source said at the hospital said Maradona would be taken to the home of his girlfriend Veronica Ojeda in the south side of Buenos Aires, but that could not be confirmed.
But Cahe has also said that he and Maradona will go to Switzerland for a comprehensive treatment for the retired footballer's problems.
"After first regarding us with skepticism, now he listens when we explain things to him. Diego has become conscious of his real problems," said Hector Pezzella, director of the private hospital.
Recent reports in Argentine media have focused on his heavy drinking and obesity, noting he has put back on many pounds (kilograms) since undergoing gastric bypass surgery in 2005 to get his weight under control.
It is not the first time Maradona, named one of the 20th century's greatest players after leading his squad to the 1986 World Cup title, has been hospitalized due to his excessive lifestyle.
His career on and off the pitch has been marred by repeated drug and alcohol abuse. He has suffered from chronic hepatitis since he contracted hepatitis B in 1991, while he played for Barcelona.
His problems only worsened after he retired from professional football in 1997. In 2000, Maradona had a heart attack in Uruguay following a cocaine overdose.
Four years later, another heart attack followed another overdose.
While he stayed in the hospital this time, he was accompanied for almost the entire period by his daughters Dalma and Giannina. At times as well his ex-wife Claudia Villafane was at his side.
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