Malaysian footballer in acid attack ‘responds well’ to surgery

KUALA LUMPUR: A prominent Malaysian footballer is “responding well” after undergoing a three-hour skin allograft surgery, a sports official said on Friday (May 10), following an acid attack that left the player in care intensive and shocked the country.

The attack on Selangor FC and Malaysian winger Faisal Halim last week at a shopping center on the outskirts of the capital, Kuala Lumpur, has marred this weekend’s planned start to the country’s football season after a series of violent incidents involving players.

Faisal suffered fourth-degree burns that prevented him from moving and speaking, just days after his Malaysian teammate Akhyar Rashid was injured in a robbery outside his home in the eastern state of Terengganu.

But Faisal “responded well to the procedure” of transplanting skin tissue from another human being, Shahril Mokhtar, vice-president of the Selangor Football Association, told AFP.

“Faisal underwent a three-hour skin allograft surgery last night on several burned areas of his body,” Shahril said after meeting Faisal on Friday morning.

“But the next few days will be critical because doctors will have to monitor the reaction of the reconstructive surgery.”

He will remain in an intensive care unit and undergo further allograft surgery, Shahril said, with a skin patch that was flown in from Belgium.

“However, everything looks good and promising,” he added.