School "will pay medical costs of student bashing victim"

 It also decided to take action against the young attackers after the victim's father publicly complained over the assault.

Natthawat Kerdsriwichai is in a stable condition after undergoing surgery to remove blood clots from his brain, but remains under intensive care. His family said the 14-year-old received no first-aid after the group of 20 eighth graders attacked him on October 30. A guardian took him to hospital a few days later.

Speaking to Khomchadluek newspaper, Thaiphat Prajinkiat, Natthawat's father, questioned the school's action in not taking his son immediately to hospital or at least administering first-aid during the four-hour period before the boy went home. He later reported severe headaches and regularly vomited and was taken to hospital on November 2.

Thaiphat said he had contacted school director Amnart Changruen and asked him to help pay Bt140,000 in treatment costs, but his request had been rejected. The school has placed the 20 alleged attackers on parole while attempting to contact their parents.

After Thaiphat's complaint went public, the director paid the boy's medical costs with his own money. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, which oversees the school, then intervened, offering to assume the costs itself, and responsibility for the boy's treatment at BMA-run Vajira Hospital.

Yesterday senior members of the BMA management visited Natthawat in hospital. A guardian for the boy played an audio clip he said he would use as evidence in a possible lawsuit claiming compensation from families of the attackers.

Pawannarat Kerdsriwichai, a guardian of Natthawat, said the boy had thalassemia [a hereditary blood disorder] and was a well-behaved student. The attack on him followed a fight in which a classmate was kicked and stomped in the face for five minutes before a teacher intervened. Five other classmates were injured, said the boy.