Cork king Américo Amorim – long considered Portugal’s richest man, with a fortune valued last year at €2.5 billion – was admitted to Gaia Cardiology Hospital earlier this week with breathing difficulties reported to be associated with a heavy cold.
Coincidentally, Portugal’s second richest man, head of Sonae Belmiro de Azevedo, was also in and out of hospital in the last week for similar reasons.
But while the 78-year-old is already back home recovering, 81-year-old Amorim is expected to remain in his hospital bed for a little while longer.
Jornal de Notícias reports that this “is not the first time the richest man of Portugal has been attended” at the heart hospital.
In 2010, he spent four days in the cardiology department, to which he bestowed “out of gratitude” an ECMO heart lung bypass machine costing €50,000.
JN says the machine helps save “many lives”.
