Mohammed bin Rashid honors surgeon Magdy Yacoub - 360 Million for New Cairo Heart Center
By: Tasnim Elnasharty/Arab America Contributing Writer.
Egypt Today
CAIRO – 21 February 2020: Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubia, on Thursday honored renowned Egyptian-British surgeon Magdy Yacoub with the “scarf of Mohammed bin Rashid for humanitarian action” for his charitable efforts and medical and scientific achievements.
Who’s Magdy Yacoub
Dr. Magdi Yacoub is Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London. He is the Founder and Director of Research at the Harefield Heart Science Centre (Magdi Yacoub Institute). He oversees more than 60 scientists and students in the areas of tissue engineering, myocardial regeneration. In addition, their fields cover stem cell biology, end stage heart failure and transplant immunology.
Dr. Yacoub was born in Egypt and graduated from Cairo University Medical School in 1957. He trained in London and held an Assistant Professorship at the University of Chicago. Furthermore, Yacoub is a former BHF Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery for over 20 years and Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at Harefield Hospital. In addition, He served from 1969-2001 and at the Royal Brompton Hospital from 1986-2001.
Dr. Yacoub established the largest heart and lung transplantation program in the world. Here, more than 2,500 transplant operations have been performed. Furthermore, he has also developed novel operations for a number of complex congenital heart anomalies.
Yacoub was among the first three surgeons to perform an open heart surgery in Nigeria in 1974. In 1986, he was part of the team that developed the techniques of the heart-lung transplantation at the National Heart and Lung Institute. He also led a British research team at Harefield hospital in 2007. They aimed to grow a part of the human heart using stem cells. These efforts were all exerted in order to overcome the shortage of heart transplant donations.
UEA Honers Dr. Magdi Yacoub
Mohammed bin Rashid, also the Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE, announced raising donations totaling EGP 360 million ($8.17 million) for Magdi Yacoub Global Heart Center in Egypt’s Aswan, on the sidelines of the Arab Hope Makers event in Dubai, according to Egyptian state’s news agency MENA.
مساهمون من الإمارات والعالم العربي، ورواد الأمل الكرماء أعلنوا عن مساهمتهم المالية لدعم مشروع بناء مستشفى البروفيسور مجدي يعقوب لعلاج أمراض القلب في مصر، والذي اختارته مبادرة #صناع_الأمل مشروع العام الإنساني pic.twitter.com/SKQLOUdRDp
— صناع الأمل (@ArabHopeMakers) February 20, 2020
The Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation (MYF) began fundraising for the Cairo Heart Center in May 2019. The costs reached around $150 million. It is expected to hold 300 beds, 17,000 inpatients and 140,000 outpatients.
The proceeds of Arab Hope Makers show allocated to supporting the construction of Magdi Yacoub Global Heart Center in Egypt. goal is to provide free-of-charge cardiac care to less fortunate communities across the Arab world. The UAE vice president stated this on his Twitter account.
In addition, Mohammed bin Rashid honored Ahmed Al-Falasi, an Emirati philanthropist, for his efforts to help those suffering kidney failure. Moreover, he provided the needy and poor people in Africa with preparations of medical care.
