Malala Yousafzai in Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham UK

Malala Yousufzai in Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham United Kingdom

Malala Yousufzai in London Hospital

London (Friday, October 19, 2012) – Management of Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham UK has issue a first ever photograph of Malala Yousafzai under treatment in Hospital.

Malala Yousafzai in London Hospital

Detail Status of Malala Yousafzai at 13:50 GMT, Friday 19 October 2012

The injury

• Malala was shot at point blank range
• Bullet hit left brow – instead of penetrating skull it travelled underneath the skin, the whole length of side of head and into neck
• Shock wave shattered thinnest bone of skull and fragments were driven into the brain
• Soft tissues at base of jaw/neck damaged
• Bullet carried on through, across top of shoulder and landed above the left shoulder blade
• The surgery to remove the bullet was successful and she was moved to the intensive care unit
• She was then reviewed and she was transferred by the military army to specialised military facilities in Rawalpindi
• She stabilised and improved
• Transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) on Monday 15 October due to their expertise in gunshot and blast injuries

Care at QEHB

• Malala was not conscious on arrival; she was in a medically-induced coma
• Her sedation was reduced by the clinical team in a controlled manner and she regained consciousness on Tuesday afternoon
• She had some movement then and that has since strengthened
• At University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) she was re-evaluated fully and a number of further injuries were identified:
  • Injured left jawbone at its joint
  • Fracture of bone behind ear
  • Fracture of base of the skull

What is her condition now?

• She is not on a ventilator; she has had a trachiostomy and is breathing through the tube in her neck
• Can’t talk because of tube in throat but can communicate through writing
• Understandably gets tired very easily
• Aware of surroundings
• Impact of brain injury, not been able to do full evaluation because brain is still swollen
• She has movement of her arms and legs
• She has stood with assistance from nurses
• She is currently fighting an infection

Next steps in care

• Needs time to recover and recuperate
• She is still very ill
• We need to get her strong enough to do reconstructive surgery
• The skull bone will need to be replaced either with her own bone or with a titanium plate
• Surgery weeks to months down the line
• This is a fluid situation and she sustained a very, very grave injury. She’s not out of the woods yet, but we are hopeful she will make a good recovery