LONDON, Dec 8: President Asif Ali Zardari visited Malala Yousufzai in a British hospital on Saturday.

Mr Zardari also met Malala’s family during a private meeting at the specialist Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, central England, where Malala was flown from Pakistan in October following the brutal attack on her school bus.

“President Zardari, accompanied by his daughter Asifa Bhutto, met with clinicians who have been treating Malala since her admission to the hospital,” the hospital said in a statement.

“They were brought up to date on the 15-year-old’s medical progress and her future treatment plan by (the trust’s) medical director, Dr Dave Rosser.”

Malala miraculously survived a murder attempt claimed by the Pakistani Taliban but requires reconstructive surgery after the bullet grazed her brain.

Pakistan is paying for her care at the Queen Elizabeth hospital, which also treats British soldiers seriously wounded in Afghanistan.

Malala has received thousands of goodwill messages and has said she is overwhelmed by the outpouring of support.—AFP