Family say brain cancer tot Ashya King is being denied vital NHS treatment
Ashya's dad says the NHS is not providing essential care for his son, who now lives in Portsmouth
BRAIN cancer survivor Ashya King is not getting crucial treatment from the NHS, his parents claim.
The eight-year-old is cancer-free and back at school - three years after a bitter row with the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust over his treatment.
Brett and Naghmeh King took their son out of hospital and travelled to the Czech Republic for proton therapy treatment in August 2014, sparking an international manhunt.
said would it not work, say Ashya, then aged five, was "too ill to go".
But now - nearly three years on - the youngster's dad, says the NHS is not providing care like MRI scans or oncologist appointments.
He told the : "It seems like some kind of revenge.
"He’s not getting any help from the NHS. No physiotherapy, speech therapy or occupational therapy.
"They’re not embarrassed by it. They’re triumphing in it."
However, the trust released a statement saying: "From the moment we performed life-saving surgery to remove Ashya’s brain tumour, our interest was only ever in providing the best and care and treatment for him.
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"We co-operated fully with his parents and were in the process of arranging a safe transfer to the Proton Therapy Center in Prague at their request when he was removed from our hospital without warning.
"We have, and always will, dispute the King family’s version of events."
A later statement said: "UHS has not been responsible for Ashya's care since he was discharged in September 2014.
"He is Portsmouth-based and any ongoing NHS care he requires has been and will continue to be handled by NHS England and his local hospital in Portsmouth.
"If the family have any questions about what access he has to NHS care, they need to raise them with their GP or NHS England.";
Ashya's parents took the Czech Republic without the consent of doctors at Southampton General Hospital after the therapy was not offered to them by the NHS.
It sparked an international manhunt that led to their arrest in Spain a few days later where they were forced to spend several nights in prison away from their son before being released.
Dad Brett and mum Naghmeh concluded that the best option was proton beam therapy, which precisely targets cancer cells following surgery to remove a large tumour from Ashya's brain.
But Ashya’s cancer — a medulloblastoma or brain tumour — was not included on the NHS list of cancers that can be referred abroad for proton treatment.
When doctors discovered Ashya was missing they alerted police.
It led to an international manhunt complete with claims that Ashya’s life was in danger. A European Arrest Warrant was issued for Brett and Naghmeh.
Brett and Naghmeh, who are Jehovah’s Witnesses, were arrested in Malaga on August 30.
Ashya was put in a Spanish hospital while the couple were held in a police station.
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