Malala reaches Britain for long-term treatment

Malala Yousafzai reached Britain on Monday evening for specialist long-term medical care. Malala, who was attacked on her school bus in the former Taliban stronghold of Swat last Tuesday, flew in to Birmingham Airport in central England at around 1450 GMT, an airport spokeswoman said. She will be cared for at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, a highly specialised facility where British soldiers seriously wounded in Afghanistan are treated, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister David Cameron said. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Malala would receive specialist care in a National Health Service hospital and reiterated condemnation of the shooting.
“The public revulsion and condemnation of this cowardly attack shows that the people of Pakistan will not be beaten by terrorists. The UK stands shoulder to shoulder with Pakistan in its fight against terrorism,” he said. Malala was sent abroad at a time when her condition is “optimal and before any unforeseen complications set in”, the military said. An air ambulance provided by the United Arab Emirates took off from Islamabad airport after daybreak. The shooting has been denounced worldwide and by Pakistan, which has said it will do everything possible to ensure Malala recovers, paying for her treatment and offering more than $100,000 for the capture of her attackers. The army said a panel of Pakistani doctors and international experts agreed Malala needed “prolonged care to fully recover from the physical and psychological effects of trauma that she has received”. It was also expected that damaged bones in her skull would need to be repaired or replaced, and that she would need “long-term rehabilitation, including intensive neuro-rehabilitation”.