British boy with brain tumour to receive treatment in Prague after leaving Spain

PRAGUE - A British boy with a brain tumour, whose parents were briefly arrested in Spain when seeking alternative care, will receive treatment in Prague, a Czech clinic said on Monday.

Ashya King's parents took him from a hospital in southern England against medical advice at the end of September and left the country, triggering a two-day international manhunt that was widely condemned by British media.

The couple were detained in Spain, separated from their five-year-old son then released days later by a Spanish judge. They said they wanted to take him to hospital in Prague that offered radiological therapy.

Medics said Ashya would be admitted to Prague's Motol Hospital, one of the EU member country's top health facilities, then treated at the newly built Proton Therapy Center (PTC) across town. "He will be admitted to Motol Hospital to undergo examinations," a PTC spokeswoman said.

She added the boy's father would meet doctors at the PTC on Monday afternoon to discuss the treatment.

The centre specialises in a type of radiological cancer treatment used for certain types of tumours, which doctors there say has fewer undesirable side effects than some other treatments.