Pakistani girl shot by Taliban flown to UK

OCTOBER 16, 2012 BY AGENCY REPORTER LEAVE A COMMENT

The 14-year-old Pakistani girl shot in the head by Taliban gunmen has been flown to the United Kingdom for medical treatment.

Malala Yousafzai has until now been at a military hospital in Rawalpindi, with doctors saying her progress over the next few days would be “critical”.

She remains in a serious condition after the attack, which the Taliban said they had carried out because she had been “promoting secularism”.

Pakistan’s interior minister has said the attack was planned abroad.

Those involved would soon be caught, said Rehman Malik, without giving further details.

Malala left Pakistan on board an air ambulance provided by the United Arab Emirates, accompanied by a full medical team.

Details of her departure were not announced until she had already left the country because of security concerns.

The plane spent several hours in Abu Dhabi before flying on to the UK. It was not immediately clear whether any of her family were travelling with her.

Pakistan’s ambassador to the Emirates, Jamil Khan, said he had seen Malala before the plane resumed its journey, and told local media that her recovery was “very steady”.

She will be treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham – an NHS (National Health Service) hospital with a major trauma centre specialising in both gunshot wounds and head injuries.

The cost of her care and rehabilitation is being met by Pakistan.

The bullet which hit Malala’s skull was removed last week, during surgery in Peshawar which had saved her life, the Pakistani military said.

In a statement, the military said her condition had since been stabilised by doctors in Rawalpindi.

Doctors had advised that if she were to be moved abroad, it should be “during this time window whilst her condition was optimal and before any unforeseen complications had set in,” the statement added.

“The panel of doctors recommended that Malala be shifted abroad to a UK centre which has the capability to provide integrated care to children who have sustained severe injury,” it said.

Once she has recovered sufficiently, she is expected to need treatment to repair or replace damaged bones in her skull and to undergo neurological treatment.

The BBC reports that  Malala has been kept sedated and on a ventilator since she was taken to hospital, with tight security around her.

The ventilator was removed briefly over the weekend to see how she coped and doctors have presumably determined she is well enough to travel, says our correspondent.

Malala gained attention aged 11, when she started writing a diary for BBC Urdu about life under the Taliban.

Using the pen-name Gul Makai, she wrote about suffering caused by militants who had taken control of the Swat Valley in 2007 and ordered girls’ schools to close.

source: punch