Pakistan proud of pig-to-human heart transplant pioneer

Pakistan proud of pig-to-human heart transplant pioneer

KARACHI: Friends and former classmates of the Pakistan-born surgeon behind the world’s first pig-to-human heart transplant say they earmarked him for greatness from his medical school days. Karachi-born Muhammad Mansoor Mohiuddin made headlines last week as the co-founder of the US university program that successfully transplanted the heart of a genetically modified pig into a gravely ill American man.

While hailed as a medical breakthrough, the procedure also raised ethical questions — particularly among some Jews and Muslims, who consider pigs to be unclean and avoid pork products. None of that worried Mohiuddin’s friends and former colleagues in Pakistan, who remember him as an ace student with a passion for medicine. “He would be so interested, always there, always available and always ready to get involved in surgery,” said Muneer Amanullah, a specialist who attended Karachi’s Dow Medical College with Mohiuddin in the 1980s.

College vice-chancellor Muhammad Saeed Qureshi said pride in Mohiuddin’s achievement had flooded the campus. “There was exhilaration that this has been done by a graduate from this college,” he told AFP. Mohiuddin was quick to share the limelight with a team of 50 from the University of Maryland Medical School. “They were all experts of their respective fields,” he told