Magdi Yacoub

 Prof Sir Magdi Habib Yacoub is a retired professor of cardiothoracic surgery who established the heart transplantation centre at Harefield hospital. He performed the first combined heart and lung transplant in the UK, and set up the Chain of Hope charity, which helps to provide heart operations for children. He was born in Egypt in 1935 but moved to the UK in 1961.

Portrait of a Doctor
Francis Picabia (1879-1953)
Photo Credit:: Tate [CC BY-NC-ND]

"I'm totally committed to the NHS because I practised in other countries, including the US, and I am totally convinced that it is the best system. Why? Because it maintains the sacred relationship between the patient and the doctor. Obviously there are problems, and issues with funding, but  it remains the best system in the world. Ask a British person if they want to have the very best treatment  for themselves and their family, they will say yes. And then you ask them if they want to have the same for their neighbour, it's still yes. That's an admirable attitude because it is not present in every country."

You've lived in the UK now for 64 years, you're a British citizen, and you've contributed enormously to this country. Do you think of yourself as British, or do you still feel essentially Egyptian at heart?

I feel British-Egyptian or Egyptian-British, but I've lived longer in this country. But I like to think of myself as a citizen of the world. I really think equity in healthcare delivery is vital because we are all the same. So I am a British, Egyptian citizen of the world, if you can combine all that together.

You treated famous patients including Eric Morecambe, but you became friendly with one in particular, Omar Sharif. What was the bond?

Well, we both came from Egypt, but I also identified with Omar in a big way. I got to know him so well, and he had an incredible sense of humour. He used to help a lot with Chain of Hope, my charity. He would often recount how he came to me saying that he had severe chest pains. I looked at his angiograms and said: "Have you had lunch?" He said "No" and I said: "We can do the operation tonight. He said: "Oh my God, what are you talking about?" After the operation he moaned out loud a lot and a nurse said, are you in pain, Mr Sharif? He said no. So she asked him why he was moaning. "In Egypt," he explained, "when you have an operation, you are told to keep saying "Aagh."

 (Andrew Anthony, The Observer, 2025)

Magdi Yacoub is 90. He has been knighted but is not one of the scoundrels who have also received that honour. His obvious humanity, his belief in the idea of equity in healthcare, that everyone should have the best treatment available whether rich or poor. This is in marked contrast to the approach where health is seen as a commodity, where market driven forces not need rules.