Hospital director unrepentant over slapping patient

THURSDAY, JULY 11, 2024

Mongkutwattana Hospital will not tolerate smoking in the hospital, says Rienthong Naenna, telling those addicted to seek treatment elsewhere

Mongkutwattana Hospital director Rienthong Naenna, who controversially slapped a 48-year-old patient on Wednesday morning, has explained his actions on Facebook, writing that he scolded the patient in question because he was smoking in the restroom.

The man was one of more than 30 patients in the hospital’s male ward, he said, adding he had vowed to stop smoking to take care of his wife and three children.

Rienthong admitted that his move was not the standard way of dealing with smokers and narcotic addicts in the hospital.

“Anyone who cannot stop themselves from smoking or using narcotics, please go to other hospitals,” he said, “Mongkutwattana Hospital will not take care of anybody who dares to smoke in the hospital.”

He also asked renowned lawyer Rachapon Sirisakorn and the press to contact the 48-year-old patient if they are interested in following up on the case.

The lawyer posted on his Facebook that being slapped for smoking in a hospital is not a practice that can be tolerated.

Rachapon earlier took up the case of a 14-year-old boy who was also slapped across the face by the hospital director who then ordered him to walk naked out of the hospital as punishment for smoking in a restroom.

The boy’s mother filed a complaint with police at the Thung Song Hong station in May this year. Rienthong was charged with physical assault and humiliation.

The hospital director visited the police station to acknowledge the charges in June and was temporarily released on the grounds that he showed no intention of trying to overturn the charges.