A SURGEON from Oxford who led a pioneering heart operation in Greece has demanded to be allowed to do it on the NHS.
Prof Stephen Westaby, who works at the John Radcliffe Hospital, spoke out after leading a surgical team in Greece who used a combination of an artificial heart and stem cells to save the life of a dying man.
‘I am very frustrated that all the work that I have done back home in the UK has to be translated into patient care in other countries’
Stephen Westaby
It is thought to be the the first time the combination has been used.
Greek patient Ioannis Manolopoulos was fitted with the mechanical pump in Thessaloloniki because his heart was too weak.
Surgeons then injected his heart with six million of his own stem cells to repair the damage.
Prof Westaby is professor of biomedical sciences at the John Radcliffe Hospital, and has pioneered the use of Jarvic pumps in patients suffering heart failure.
But the NHS does not routinely pay for the treatment, and Prof Westaby relies on charity funding, or travels abroad to implant pumps in countries where governments are prepared to fund the £60,000 devices.
He said: “I am very frustrated that all the work that I have done back home in the UK has to be translated into patient care in other countries.
“We have helped to develop programmes in France, Greece and Japan. It’s time we did it in the UK.”
He said heart pumps could save 12,000 lives each year.
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