Maradona's family trying to find him drugs rehab centre
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-05-09 08:47

Diego Maradona's family have been trying hard to find a drug rehabilitation centre which will accept the football legend who has come close to death with heart and lung problems.

Combo of Diego Maradona, whose family have been trying hard to find a drug rehabilitation centre which will accept the Argentina football legend who has come close to death with heart and lung problems. [AFP/file]

Clarin newspaper reported his ex-wife Claudi Villafane burst into tears while being unable to tell him five Argentine clinics had refused to take him, fearing resistance from Maradona and for the privacy of other patients.

"Claudia, please tell me what's happening," Maradona asked of Villafane in one of his rare moments of lucidity, according to medical sources quoted by Clarin.

Maradona, 43, who was admitted to the Suizo-Argentina clinic on Wednesday having spent 12 days in the same hospital last month, is under sedation in intensive care.

The 1986 World Cup-winning captain has been suffering cocaine addiction for years with several doctors claiming that is the cause of his health problems.

Maradona will not hear of going to an Argentine drug rehabilitation centre, preferring to returning to Cuba where it is said he has been fighting his addiction since 2000.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro has put a plane at Maradona's disposal should he want to return to the island, according to sources close to the player.

"We have nowhere to take him," Maradona's personal doctor Alfredo Cahe said on television. "Other clinics in the country don't want him and to take him abroad (apart from Cuba) the patient's consent is needed."

Cahe denied he had been distanced from Maradona at the request of hospital officials.

A medical source said if he refused to go to a medical centre in Argentina, Maradona would not be able to defeat his drugs habit.

Maradona still wants to go back to the luxurious residence at General Rodriguez, 50km to the north west of Buenos Aires, where immediately after leaving hospital he spent his time playing golf, kicking a football and walking outdoors without a shirt on in cold, autumnal weather, bringing about his re-admission.

Maradona's parents have made contact with a clinic in Villa Paranacito in the centre of the country who might take him but its director Juan Ferreyra told Radio Diez on Saturday nothing had been decided.

Argentine media said Maradona's parents had signed a document putting their son under their jurisdiction should he refuse to go for treatment.

Claudio Belocopit, the director of the Swiss-Argentine clinic where Maradona is currently, said on Friday she expected clarification of his fate in the next 48 hours.

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