RAWALPINDI: “The next 36 to 48 hours are critical but we are hopeful that Malala Yousufzai will recover soon as her condition is satisfactory,” said Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa, Director General of Inter Services Public Relations, here on Friday.

Talking to media in his office, Gen Bajwa said that a panel of doctors taking care of the injured Malala Yousufzai had described her condition as satisfactory. He said that after arrival from the Peshawar CMH, she had been on a ventilator at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC).

“The neurosurgical and intensive care specialists are satisfied with the current condition of Malala Yousufzai, but still the next 36 to 48 hours are critical,” the chief of ISPR said.

While informing media about the health of the 14-year-old schoolgirl, who was targeted by Taliban in Mingora on Tuesday, he said that medical sketches and investigations carried out at the AFIC suggested that all her vital organs were intact and functioning properly.

Regarding any decision to take her abroad, Gen Bajwa said that such a decision would only be taken after the advice of doctors. “The decision for medical care abroad will be taken by experts, but I assure you that she is in the best hands of civilian and military doctors,” he said, adding that the panel of doctors taking round-the-clock care of Malala Yousufzai was also consulting two British specialists.

The two specialists who recently arrived in the country to attend a conference, were extending their expert opinion to the Pakistani panel of doctors treating Malala Yousufzai.

“This panel of doctors will keep vigil on her health round the clock and will take decisions according to her condition,” he said.

Malala was flown in an army air ambulance from the Combined Military Hospital in Peshawar to Rawalpindi, accompanied by a team of specialist doctors of the army, while another team of specialists headed by the Surgeon General of Pakistan Army received her here, he said.

The ISPR chief disagreed with an opinion that the attack on Malala showed resurfacing of terrorists in Swat.

“They are on the run and are operating from isolated pockets,” he said.