ZURICH/MILAN, April 26 (Reuters) – Switzerland will charge Rome for the costs its health system sustained to treat Italian nationals wounded in the New Year’s Eve fire at the Crans-Montana ski resort, which claimed 41 lives, the government’s office in charge of social insurance matters said.
The expense claim adds further strain to the relationship between the two countries, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday describing the move as “disgraceful” following news that the families of the fire victims had been billed.
In a statement to Reuters late on Saturday, the Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO) confirmed plans for Switzerland to recoup the money spent on hospital treatment, though not from the families of the victims.
The FSIO said that, under current agreements between the EU member states and Switzerland, the victims would receive an invoice only for verification purposes and the costs charged “to the relevant foreign health insurer.”
ITALY’S PM MELONI SAYS WILL REJECT REQUEST
A spokesperson later clarified that in Italy’s case that would be the health ministry.
Meloni said in a post on Facebook late on Friday: “Should this disgraceful request be made formally, I hereby announce that Italy will reject it outright and will not act upon it in any way.”
“I have faith in the Swiss authorities’ sense of responsibility and hope that the report will prove to be entirely unfounded,” she added.
Switzerland is asking for more than 100,000 Swiss francs ($127,000) in refunds for four Italian nationals treated for just one day at the Sion hospital after the blaze, Italian ambassador to Switzerland Gian Lorenzo Cornado was quoted as saying on Saturday by news agency ANSA.
Cornado added Swiss patients wounded in the Cans-Montana fire have been treated for months at the Niguarda hospital in Milan, northern Italy, and that Italy sent a civil protection helicopter to assist with rescue operations without asking for any money.
($1 = 0.7850 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Oliver Hirt in Zurich, with Giulio Piovaccari and Valentina Za in Milan; Writing by Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by David Holmes)
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