Whilst many doctors seem to be talking about how quickly they can retire from the NHS there is one famous surgeon who has bent the rules as much as he can to stay working for the NHS.
He has carried out more heart transplants than anyone else in the world and is one of my heroes.
Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub was born in Egypt 65 years ago. At the age of 7 his aunt died of a heart condition that was eminently curable and so he embarked on a journey to become a cardio-thoracic surgeon. He came to the UK in 1962 and by 1969 was working at the Harefield Hospital in North London. Over his long career he has developed pioneering surgical techniques and been an inspiration to many. A book has even been written of one domino transplant he undertook on a pathologist who had been working with him, and who had ignored the signs of heart disease thinking them just to be asthma. The pathologist received new heart and lungs whilst donating her heart on to another patient, hence the term “domino”. Julia Polak, the true pathologist studied her own lungs and presented the findings at a scientific meeting where Prof Yacoub discussed the operation.
In 1995 Professor Yacoub set up the Chain of Hope Charity to provide free heart surgery to children of poor or war ravaged countries. Some children are brought to the UK from all over the world, and several times a year a team of surgeons travel to provide cardiothoracic surgery in Egypt.
Now 65 the NHS will not allow Professor Yacoub to continue working for it. Somehow I do not imagine that will stop him continuing his life giving work. The chain of hope website can be found at http://www.chainofhope.org/
He has carried out more heart transplants than anyone else in the world and is one of my heroes.
Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub was born in Egypt 65 years ago. At the age of 7 his aunt died of a heart condition that was eminently curable and so he embarked on a journey to become a cardio-thoracic surgeon. He came to the UK in 1962 and by 1969 was working at the Harefield Hospital in North London. Over his long career he has developed pioneering surgical techniques and been an inspiration to many. A book has even been written of one domino transplant he undertook on a pathologist who had been working with him, and who had ignored the signs of heart disease thinking them just to be asthma. The pathologist received new heart and lungs whilst donating her heart on to another patient, hence the term “domino”. Julia Polak, the true pathologist studied her own lungs and presented the findings at a scientific meeting where Prof Yacoub discussed the operation.
In 1995 Professor Yacoub set up the Chain of Hope Charity to provide free heart surgery to children of poor or war ravaged countries. Some children are brought to the UK from all over the world, and several times a year a team of surgeons travel to provide cardiothoracic surgery in Egypt.
Now 65 the NHS will not allow Professor Yacoub to continue working for it. Somehow I do not imagine that will stop him continuing his life giving work. The chain of hope website can be found at http://www.chainofhope.org/
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