Valais President Mathias Reynard (left) met Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, in Martigny, canton Valais, on Friday.
Keystone-SDA
Italian patients hospitalised in canton Valais, Switzerland, following the fire in Crans-Montana will not be charged, Valais President Mathias Reynard confirmed on Friday after meeting the Italian ambassador.
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The president of the Valais cantonal government had already clarified this point in a telephone conversation with Ambassador Gian Lorenzo Cornado on Monday. The working meeting on Friday in Martigny, Switzerland, which had been arranged several weeks ago, allowed both officials to take stock of the Crans-Montana tragedy.
A total of 41 people died in the fire at the Le Constellation bar in the Swiss ski resort on New Year’s Eve and 115 were injured, some of them seriously. Six of people who died were from Italy and ten were injured.
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The meeting, which took place on Friday afternoon, lasted less than an hour. Shortly afterwards, the ambassador informed Italian news agencies that the talks had centred on the copies of invoices that the Valais hospital had sent to Italian families last week.
Uncertainty and outrage in Italy
Bills for the treatment of three injured people on January 1 range between CHF17,000 and CHF66,800 ($21,600-84,900). The invoices caused great uncertainty among those affected and outrage in Italy.
Three invoices were forwarded to the Joint Organisation KVG, which is working with Italian insurers and the relevant liaison bodies to determine how the costs will be apportioned.
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The concerned Italian families had already been informed in writing between the end of February and the beginning of March about the procedure in case they received invoices that they were not obliged to pay, the Valais Health Service said on Tuesday. Furthermore, the documents sent were just copies for the information of those affected.
A whole series of disagreements
The invoice controversy is not the first disagreement between Switzerland and Italy.
Rome had previously recalled its ambassador on January 24 to express its disapproval at the ongoing investigations conducted by the Valais authorities into the deadly bar fire disaster, and in particular the release of the owner of the bar, Jacques Moretti, on January 23.
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In mid-February, Italian and Valais law enforcement authorities agreed to cooperate more closely in order to clarify the details of the tragedy.
On March 25, an Italian public prosecutor accompanied by investigators travelled to Valais for two days to familiarise himself with the investigation files.
The Italian ambassador finally returned to Switzerland on April 6, with the declared aim of checking the effectiveness of the cooperation.
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