Brazil football legend Pele’s health is improving but he is still receiving an intensive treatment known as hemodialysis for a urinary infection, the hospital treating him said on Friday.
Pele, 74, “is in better clinical condition,” said the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, adding that he was “lucid” and breathing on his own but still receiving hemodialysis, which involves filtering a patient’s blood through an artificial kidney that cleans it before returning it to the body.
The hospital said the measure was a “temporary kidney support” and that no other treatment was currently required. Pele, whose real name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento, is widely regarded as the greatest player of all time.
He was admitted to hospital Monday and diagnosed with a urinary infection.
After the hospital said Thursday that he had been placed in intensive care, he took to Facebook and Twitter to insist that he was fine and had simply been moved to another room for more privacy.
“I want to take this opportunity to let you know that I am doing fine,” he wrote. “I am blessed to receive your love and support, and thank God this is nothing serious.
“I was simply relocated to a special room within the hospital for privacy purposes only. While I appreciate all the visitors that came to see me, I really need to continue my treatment and recovery in peace.”
He said he would spend the upcoming holidays with family and looked forward to beginning 2015 “with renewed health,” adding he had “many international trips already planned.”
His agent Jose Fornos said that the star was tired after receiving too many visits, and added that his treatment “could go on for eight days.”