A Malaysian girl who had to lug around a battery weighing nine kilogrammes (20 pounds) to power her mechanical heart is making progress after receiving a real heart, a report said Sunday.

Tee Hui Yee, 14, received the transplant in a marathon operation at the National Heart Institute on Friday immediately after her body rejected a first organ.

Mohamed Ezani Mohamad Taib, clinical director with the heart institute, said Tee was making good progress after her operation.

"When the doctors asked her which areas she felt pain, she was able to point and was able to move her feet and hands," he was quoted as saying by the Sunday Star newspaper.

"This is good progress and doctors are cautiously happy," he added.

Mohamad Ezam said tests showed the heart was functioning normally.

If Tee's health improves, she would be moved to a normal ward in about five days, he said.

"I was relieved and happy to see the progress, as I really got scared when the first transplant failed."

Tee's mother Dina Bato said: "I just do not know what was going to happen next, but thank God for the second donor."

Organ donation is rare in Malaysia amid cultural and religious concerns but religious authorities are now stepping up a campaign to encourage donors.

Tee was Malaysia's second recipient of a mechanical heart after undergoing an operation to insert the device last September that helps pump blood to the whole body.

She had been making appeals to Malaysians for a real heart as the device would stop functioning next September.

Tee was diagnosed with heart failure after suffering a viral infection when she was just two years old.