Italian Foreign Minister Angelino
Alfano on Monday urged his British counterpart, Boris Johnson,
to allow a young boy suffering from an undiagnosed degenerative
disease to be transferred to medical facilities in Rome.
The family of the boy, Alfie Evans, is in a legal battle with
Alder Hey, a children's hospital that says it is best to
withdraw ventilation as his condition cannot be treated and has
destroyed much of his brain.
The boy's parents want to take him to Rome's Bambino Gesú
children's hospital, which is owned by the Vatican.
Alfano asked for the parents' request to be granted to take
the boy to the hospital in the Italian capital, "medical
facilities of a very high level that accept him in on the base
of an agreement".
He noted, however, that "Alfie is a British citizen and Italy
respects the decisions made in the framework of British national
jurisdiction" and that "the British national healthcare system
and medical standards are among the highest in the world".
The Rome hospital has reportedly given the same prognosis but
would be willing to perform a tracheotomy.
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