A lawyer has asked police to press charges against Maj Gen Dr Rienthong Nanna, the director of Mongkutwattana Hospital, who has admitted to slapping the face of a 14-year-old boy and ordering him to walk naked out of the hospital as punishment for smoking in a restroom.
The teenager was caught smoking in a restroom on the first floor of Building 3 at about 10.30pm on Monday.
According to the boy, he saw a group of hospital staff when he left the restroom. He was taken to the hospital lobby and asked to pay a 5,000-baht fine for smoking.
A staff member then took his mobile phone and told him to wait for the hospital director.
The boy said Dr Rienthong walked towards him and asked why he had smoked in the hospital. After asking the question, the man slapped him in the face four times until he cried.
He said Dr Rienthong then kicked him in the face twice and kneed him near his left eye. After that, he ordered him to take off his clothes and walk naked out of the hospital.
On arriving at the entrance of Chaeng Watthana Soi 12, the boy said he asked for help from a passerby to borrow a mobile phone to contact a relative to pick him up.
The lawyer said Dr Rienthong refused to hold talks.
The boy’s mother said she apologised for her son’s action for smoking in the restroom. However, she called the punishment unreasonable.
On Wednesday, Dr Rienthong said he would raise the fine for smoking in his hospital from 5,000 baht to 500,000 baht.
The hospital director admitted he slapped and kicked the teenager and ordered him to strip because he wanted him to understand the consequences of his actions.
