Malala can stand, write

Doctors: Shot Pakistani girl improving although not out of the woods yet

LONDON: The British hospital treating a 15-year-old Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban raised hopes for her recovery when doctors said she was able to stand with some help and to write.

Malala Yousufzai appeared with her eyes open and alert as she lay in a hospital bed, in the first photographs released by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham since she arrived from Pakistan on Monday.

It was a series of positive developments since the shooting, which was a brazen bid by the Taliban to silence the girl, who has been an outspoken advocate for girls’ right to education.

Still, doctors said she shows signs of infection and faces a long, difficult recovery with uncertain prospects.

“She is not out of the woods yet,” hospital medical director Dr Dave Rosser said. “Having said that, she’s doing very well. In fact, she was standing with some help for the first time this morning when I went in to see her.”

He said Malala had agreed to the release of medical information and photos, and wants to thank people throughout the world for their interest and support in the difficult days since she was gunned down in Pakistan.

He said her bullet wound has become infected.

A large bruise beneath her left eye could be seen in the photo released on Friday, showing Malala in her hospital bed with a toy bear. The upbeat report galvanised Malala’s many backers, who had feared the worst.

Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, daughter of the late Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto, described Malala’s progress as wondrous.

“Miracles of today: Malala able to stand,” she tweeted.

Brain injury experts stressed, however, that she is at the start of what will be a long process.

Dr Jaime Levine, medical director of brain injury rehabilitation at the Rusk Rehabilitation unit at NYU Langone Medical Centre in Manhattan, said Malala’s ability to stand with assistance and move her arms was a “wonderful sign”, but the doctor said it weas too soon to say whether she would make a complete recovery.

“For some, recovery from a brain injury is a lifelong process,” Levine said.

“Some people are left with limitations for the rest of their lives. We speak about recovery in terms of goals and function. For a 15-year-old girl attending school with the promise of her whole life in front of her, goals for her are to finish school and to have a job one day and to have a family. ... But we’re not talking about those goals yet. We’re talking about short-term goals.”

Malala has come to be a symbol for a girl’s right to education. — AP