British tumour boy set for treatment in Czech Republic
British boy Ashya King is set to receive treatment for his brain tumour in the Czech Republic, his family said on Wednesday, after getting the green light from the British hospital responsible for his care.
Police in Spain released Brett and Naghemeh King, the parents of the five-year-old, on Tuesday after they were briefly detained for removing Ashya from Southampton General Hospital in the UK without the consent of doctors.
The incident sparked an international manhunt for the duo, who were eventually found to be with the rest of their family in Malaga, Spain.
Specialist treatment
Ashya's brother Daniel said on Wednesday that his kid brother would travel to the Proton Therapy Centre in Prague to receive specialist treatment unavailable in Britain.
"The reason we chose Prague is because it’s the best solution in Europe and also cheaper than going to America," he told the BBC.
He added that he had visited his brother in hospital on Tuesday, and that he was physically “fine” but “emotionally very confused”.
Doctors at the Prague medical centre say they have been sent Ashya’s medical records by the British hospital.
Hospital threatened a court order
Mr Brett King, 51, took his son out of the hospital in England after claiming doctors there had blocked his attempts to take Ashya abroad for treatment and threatened to ask for a protection order.
But Dr Peter Wilson, a paediatrician at Southampton General Hospital, said “at no stage” had the hospital threatened a court order.
“We said we would work with teams in Prague to allow them to go out there for radiation, as long it was in a safe manner.”
He said he was “horrified” by claims made by Ashya’s father that they were “killing” Ashya.
The boy’s grandmother Patricia King said the warrant should never have been issued and accused Hampshire Constabulary and Southampton General Hospital of dealing in “lies and then U-turns.”
The case prompted an outcry in Britain, where some 130,000 people signed a petition calling for the boy to be reunited with his parents.
Source: AFP
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