Dr Asif Hasan: The Pakistani Surgeon Behind More Than 4,000 Heart Operations in the UK

Pakistani-born British heart surgeon Dr Asif Hasan has received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Pride of Britain Awards in recognition of his outstanding contributions to paediatric heart surgery and his decades of work saving children's lives.

Dr Hasan, who retired in 2026 after serving at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital for 35 years, has performed more than 4,000 heart operations and over 400 heart transplants during his medical career.

The award ceremony drew emotional reactions after several children whose lives had been saved through Dr Hasan's surgeries appeared among the audience to thank him. The surgeon was visibly moved when he was told that some of his former patients were present at the event.

Among those who attended was Cecilia, a young woman whose life was saved through an unusual heart transplant performed when she was just eight years old.

Cecilia was born with a serious heart condition and had undergone multiple surgeries, including a bypass operation, by the age of two. At eight, a heart transplant became her only option. However, finding a suitable donor proved difficult because of her age and weight.

The available donor weighed around 90 kilograms, while Cecilia weighed only 20 kilograms. The donor heart was therefore significantly larger than what would normally be suitable for a child of her size.

Dr Hasan and his team at Freeman Hospital used a new surgical technique to transplant the larger heart into Cecilia's small chest. The procedure had not previously been used in paediatric heart surgery.

Speaking to BBC Urdu, Dr Hasan explained that closing Cecilia's chest immediately after the operation was impossible because of the size of the transplanted heart. The surgical team therefore left it open, allowing the heart to gradually adjust to the available space as the surrounding tissue and skin covered the chest.

Cecilia survived and has since grown into adulthood.

Medical Education and Career in the UK

Dr Asif Hasan was born in Karachi in 1956. His family had moved to the Pakistani city from Agra, India, in 1947.

He graduated from Dow Medical College in 1979 before moving to England to pursue his medical career. After working at several hospitals, he eventually settled in Newcastle, where he spent 35 years at Freeman Hospital.

During his career, Dr Hasan performed more than 4,000 heart operations and over 400 transplants. These included not only heart transplants but also combined heart-and-kidney, heart-and-liver, and heart-and-lung transplants.

He also performed a transplant on a baby who was only a few weeks old.

Explaining whether children can receive hearts from adult donors, Dr Hasan said that larger donor hearts can sometimes be used in children, depending on their age and physical size.

He recalled that the first heart transplant performed at Newcastle's hospital in October 1987 was on a five-month-old baby girl. She is now approaching her 40th birthday, and he is helping organise celebrations to mark the occasion.

He explained that a transplanted heart can grow along with a child as they develop.

Challenges of Paediatric Heart Surgery

Discussing the complexity of operating on children, Dr Hasan said medical advances have made many procedures that were once considered extremely difficult part of standard surgical practice.

He explained that some babies with serious heart conditions require surgery within minutes of birth to survive.

Comparing surgical expertise to gymnastics, he said that achieving complex results requires years of preparation and gradual progress through smaller steps.

Dr Hasan also spoke about the emotional impact of working as a heart surgeon. He recalled a famous saying that every surgeon carries a cemetery in their heart, referring to the patients they could not save.

Although he has retired, he said unsuccessful operations still come to his mind at night.

One of the longest operations he performed involved a patient who required both a heart and liver transplant. The procedure lasted around 17 to 18 hours, with Dr Hasan performing the heart transplant while a colleague carried out the liver transplant.

'Surgeons Are Not Gods'

Despite receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award, Dr Hasan said he did not attach particular importance to awards, explaining that he had simply tried to perform his work honestly and professionally.

He challenged the perception that surgeons are like gods, saying medical professionals should understand that they have a responsibility to perform their duties with honesty and dedication.

Several of his former patients, now adults, continue to maintain contact with him and their families.

One of the women who attended the Pride of Britain ceremony was 28 years old and had undergone five operations under his care.

Praise for Britain's National Health Service

Dr Hasan also credited Britain's National Health Service (NHS) for playing a major role in his career and supporting patients who need expensive medical treatment.

He said the NHS provides free healthcare ranging from relatively minor procedures to complex heart transplants.

Having also worked in the United States and other countries, he said he had seen families struggle financially to afford medical treatment for their children, with some even selling their homes to cover the costs.

He acknowledged that the NHS has its own challenges but said its major strength is that patients do not have to sell their homes to receive medical treatment.

Reflecting on his retirement, Dr Hasan said he had always wanted to train younger surgeons who could eventually perform operations without needing his assistance.

He said he would consider his work complete if the doctors he had trained could continue the work and achieve things beyond what he had accomplished.

Tennis, Ghalib and Gardening

Beyond medicine, Dr Hasan has three main interests: playing tennis, reading the poetry of Mirza Ghalib and gardening.

He plays for Newcastle's over-65 tennis team and also participates in tournaments.

He is currently working on a book project with two friends, surgeon Sher Shah Syed and artist Ahmed Zaheer Babar, to translate 100 verses by Ghalib into English. Babar will create paintings inspired by the translated poetry.

Describing the importance of his three interests, Dr Hasan said tennis supports physical health, Ghalib contributes to mental well-being, and gardening benefits environmental health.

He also comes from a literary family. His maternal grandfather was poet Muneeb-ur-Rehman, while his father held a PhD in Arabic.

Dr Hasan's career has left a lasting impact on hundreds of families whose children received life-saving treatment under his care, making his recognition at the Pride of Britain Awards a significant moment for the Pakistani community in the UK.