A team of doctors carried out a five-hour operation on Saturday on 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in October and brought to Britain for treatment.
The procedures carried out were cranial reconstruction, aimed at mending parts of her skull with a titanium plate, and a cochlear implant designed to restore hearing on her left side, which was damaged in the attack.
"Both operations were a success and Malala is now recovering in hospital," said a statement on Sunday from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, central England, where she is being treated.
The girl's condition was described as stable and the statement said her medical team was very pleased with the progress she has made. "She is awake and talking to staff and members of her family," it added.
The attack on Yousafzai, who was shot in the head at point blank range as she left school in the Swat valley, drew widespread international condemnation.
She has become an international symbol of resistance to the Taliban's efforts to deny women education and other rights, and more than 250,000 people have signed online petitions calling for her to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Yousafzai will now continue recuperating at the Queen Elizabeth hospital, which has a specialist unit where doctors have treated hundreds of soldiers wounded in conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, the hospital statement said.
COMMENTS (22)
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@Anuj: By acknowledging the fact that a 14 year old fighting for girl's education was shot in the head, Pakistanis are not looking at her to "save us from all our troubles." She stands for something more people need to stand for. "Getting over it" isn't going to make anything change. This is not the first nor the last time one person becomes a symbolic figure of whatever they're fighting for. Happens throughout history, and if everyone 'got over it' no change would ever come about. If you've got nothing productive to contribute, try keeping to yourself. Cheers.
Every same human being on earth is praying for your early recovery, you little angel.
@rashid: Get a grip on yourself, dear!
Good luck to Young lady. She has been extemely lucky so far after being shot. Hope lady luck continues to smile on her.
Taliban talk big but feel insecured by a school girl with a book in hand. Education is actually the real threat to Taliban rather than guns and bombs.
I am encouraged reading the above comments that Pakistanis are finally waking up and embracing Malala. May Allah protect and help all Pakistanis who wish to educate themselves and develop their nation.
I wish you the best and hope you will recover from this dreadful ordeal.Our prayers are with you and your family.
Unfortunately she has lost hearing in left ear for good. Shame.
She is a brave-heart and have put up her fight very well....but she was not the first one to be shot and certainly not the last one.....hundreds of people are killed every day in Pakistan by Taliban and sectarian violence....so honestly, its time that Pakistan and the entire world should get over this Malala thing...give this child some rest and stop looking at a kid to save you guys from all the troubles....She had enough for her childhood.....
A brave girl indeed. She deserves the noble prize and I wish she gets it. Malala you are the true face of Pakistani girls. A request - we, her well-wishers, want to see a fresh family photo with her both parents and brothers. Our salute to her mother who has given birth to such a brilliant, brave and beautiful little princess. Pakistan Zindabad and Malala Yousufzai Zindabad.
Get well soon, my leader, u did what I could not all this time! I salute you.
Will UK keep her?
As a final year dental student I was taken aback that some of my higher achieving colleagues and even FCPS part 2 cleared assistant professors denied Malala being shot and shared pics on facebook to debunk her injury, whereas I being an average student could tell from her facial asymmetry (which is a classic sign of nerve injury resulting in loss of muscle tone) and the black eye (due to injury sustained in the vicinity of orbit) that it resulted from a massive injury to the skull. Those who claim to be proficient in medical/dental field as no less different in defaming Malala than those of the general public.
Wish her and others like her all the success in life. Perdition to her detractors, defamers, and to the murderers with stone age mentality who attacked her.
ok
Malala wish you a full and speedy recovery. Inshallah you will be able to get back to school and resume your studies, the right for which you have suffered so much. You are the Pakistan I love, and will fight for.
i really really reallly believe she is an angle or she is supernatural u go super girl u r the girl love you dear malala
Malala: You are an icon of Pakistan and it means that all girls and boys are going to go to the schools, no matter whereever they are located in Pakistan.
May ALLAH give her health and make her stronger to confront scum of earth called Taliban who wants to rule our country and make it a third world country,Malala wants to be a politician in future,Pakistan badly needs sane & passionate people like Malala who can save this country from drowning by their hard work and determination..I wish you all the best Malala..Stay safe sis :)
What a fighter, what a champion...............shame on the religious extremists.
Malala has been given life by God and she is the blessed one. When such a miracle happens, it sounds death knell for the evil forces ie Taliban.
We wish our little princess best of health and great future.