Surgeons in UK to repair Malala's skull

Doctors in the UK have revealed how they are going to repair a missing area of the skull of 15-year-old Pakistani education campaigner Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating education for girls', in October last year.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham said the surgery would take place in the next 10 days. The first procedure will involve drilling into Malala's skull and inserting a custom-made metal plate, reports the BBC.

The second procedure will involve fitting a small electronic device that provides a sense of sound to someone who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing.

Doctors said Malala had been left completely deaf in her left ear when she was shot at point-blank range. The shockwave destroyed her eardrum and the bones for hearing.

Dr Dave Rosser, medical director at the QEHB, said each procedure should take about 90 minutes and her full recovery could take another 15 to 18 months.

Dr Rosser said Malala's recovery is remarkable. He said that the surgery that she underwent in Pakistan was life saving, adding that had that surgery not been of such a high standard she would have died.

He said the missing part of Malala's skull had been put in her abdomen by surgeons in Pakistan, in order to "keep the bone alive".

Doctors in Birmingham have chosen to use a metal plate to repair her skull instead of that bone, which they say may have shrunk. Dr Rosser said this was common practice worldwide to keep the bone healthy.

He said Malala currently has no skull and only has skin covering the brain.

Malala came to prominence when, as an 11-year-old, she wrote a diary for BBC Urdu, giving an account of Taliban atrocities in her region in 2009. She also won a national peace award in 2011.

Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition calling for Malala to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.