Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl who survived an assassination attempt by Taliban militants, was discharged from Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, on Thursday.
Malala “is well enough to be treated by the hospital as an outpatient for the next few weeks,†the hospital said in a statement. “She is still due to be readmitted in late January or early February to undergo cranial reconstructive surgery as part of her long-term recovery and in the meantime she will visit the hospit al regularly to attend clinical appointments.â€
The complete text of the statement was posted on the hospital's Web site, along with video of the girl walking out of her hospital room under her own power.
Dr. David Rosser, the hospital's medical director said: “Malala is a strong young woman and has worked hard with the people caring for her to make excellent progress in her recovery.â€
Malala became an outspoken advocate for the education for girls in Pakistan at the age of 11, when the BBC's Urdu-language service published her “Diary of a Pakistani Schoolgirl.†The blog chronicled life under Taliban rule, after her home in the Swat Valley was overrun by the Islamist militants in 2009. She was shot in the head by a militant in Octob er and airlifted to England for treatment the same month.
Her father, Ziauddin, has been appointed to a three-year term as Pakistan's education attaché in Birmingham, ITV News reported on Wednesday.
Robert Mackey also remixes the news on Twitter @robertmackey.
