UK Doctors Hopeful For Pakistani Girl Who Was Shot In The Head

Date: Oct-16-2012Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year-old girl who was shot in the head during a Taliban targeted gun attack, may well make a full recovery, British doctors said yesterday. Malala, who had a bullet removed from her head last week, was moved from Pakistan to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, yesterday by air ambulance.

Malala travelled to England on her own. However, it is believed that some members of her family will follow.

The girl was shot for "promoting secularism", Taliban said. According to most media sources in Pakistan and abroad, she was shot because she campaigned for the right to be educated.

Malala was traveling in a van on her way home from school in Mingora in the Swat Valley, a gunman boarded the vehicle, ask for her by name and shot her in the head from point blank range. According to media reports in Pakistan, she managed to duck just before the shooter fired his gun, a move that saved much of her brain.

Two other girls, Kainat Riaz and Shazia Ramzan, were also shot and wounded. However, both of them were stable enough to speak to reporters and provide details of the attack.

Last week, surgeons in Peshawar, Pakistan, removed the bullet that had entered her head and lodged very near her spinal cord. The was then transported to a military hospital in Rawalpindi, where she underwent further treatment.

Initially, officials in Pakistan emphasized that Malala would be treated in Pakistan. A panel of doctors strongly recommended she be moved to a UK facility which has the capability to provide the best care possible so that the girl may have a good chance of making a recovery.

Throughout her ordeal so far, the girl has remained unconscious. She relies on a ventilator to breathe. Pakistani military doctors said her recovery was "satisfactory". When her sedatives were reduced, some leg and hand movements were detected. There is no news about whether she sustained any brain damage or any kind of permanent trauma.

Dr. David Rosser, Medical Director of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, said some doctors had been in Pakistan and told him there is a chance the girl will make a good recovery. He added that her treatment and rehabilitation will take several months.

Dr. Rosser told reporters:

"Clearly it would be inappropriate on every level, not least for her, to put her through all of this if there was no hope of decent recovery."
Malala's BBC blog
Malala kept a diary of what life under the Taliban was like for a girl who was banned from going to school because she was female. Her diary was written for BBC Urdu.

Below is a 2009 BBC blog entry made by Malala Yousafzai:

"I had a terrible dream yesterday with military helicopters and the Taleban. I have had such dreams since the launch of the military operation in Swat. My mother made me breakfast and I went off to school. I was afraid going to school because the Taleban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending schools.

Only 11 students attended the class out of 27. The number decreased because of Taleban's edict. My three friends have shifted to Peshawar, Lahore and Rawalpindi with their families after this edict.

On my way from school to home I heard a man saying 'I will kill you'. I hastened my pace and after a while I looked back if the man was still coming behind me. But to my utter relief he was talking on his mobile and must have been threatening someone else over the phone."
Queen Elizabeth Hospital specializes in gunshot wounds
Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham has ten years of experience treating battle injuries. Dr. Rosser said the girl's condition is physiologically similar to what the doctors are used to treating when they receive wounded soldiers.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital specializes in treating gunshots wounds to the head

The hospital, which is also home to the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, is the main unit in the UK for receiving wounded military personnel who had been on active duty abroad. It is specialized in treating severe gunshot wounds and major head injuries.

When her condition permits, doctors said that Malala will require treatment to either repair or replace damaged bones in her skull, as well as neurological help.

Pakistani ministry of foreign affairs spokesman, Moazzam Khan, explained that the US offer of help had not been accepted for medical reasons. "Several other countries had also offered treatment, and the US was among them. But due to the conditions of the patient and keeping in view the distance and the hours of travelling, Britain was preferred."

Despite horror both at home in Pakistan and around the world, the Taliban have threatened to shoot her again. Officials in Birmingham say they are "taking security very seriously".

Former UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who is today the United Nations special envoy for global education, yesterday launched a petition for Malala called "I am Malala".

Gordon Brown said:

"Today, sadly, 32 million girls are not going to school, and it is time to fight harder for Malala's dream to come true."

Written by Christian Nordqvist

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