Adelaide talk presenter Bob Francis who is on leave following his outspoken comments regarding asylum seekers, has been admitted to a Cologne hospital complaining of shortness of breath. “We got into Cologne, got an ambulance and got into hospital, where they drained three litres of fluid out of my lungs,” he told The Australian. 

Although doctors remained concerned his condition could worsen, FIVEaa general manager Sean O’Brien is reported to have said that he had received “excellent treatment and is now feeling much better.”

Apologies

Francis came under fire last month for telling his listeners, “Bugger the boatpeople, I say. As far as I’m concerned, I hope they bloody drown out there on their way over here — in my opinion they are not welcome here.”

Perhaps it was the relaxing cruise that he had just been on or the stint in hospital that has led to his contrition and an apology delivered from his sick bed.

“I apologise for what I said,” Francis told The Australian.

“I’ve done this before and been in trouble for saying the wrong thing, because I don’t have an editor between my brain and my mouth.

“When you say things like that off the cuff, you think, ‘oh shit, I shouldn’t have said it that way’, but it was too late because I said it anyway. It was done,” he said.

The 73 year old is still planning to be back on air in his regular 7pm timeslot on July 16. But it won’t be via Paris as he and his wife had hoped. Instead he’ll be coming straight back to Australia for more treatment.