CAIRO: Renowned Egyptian-British surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub, dubbed the King of Hearts at home has performed open-heart surgery on a terror suspect implicated in a deadly attack in Cairo last year, security sources said Tuesday.
Reda Sayed Ahmed, 26, who suffers from an abscess in the aorta and a valve malfunction, is accused of being involved in an attack on Cairo s Al-Azhar district on April 7, 2005 in which two French and one American tourist were killed.
He underwent a first operation in a private hospital which proved unsuccessful and was transferred to the Kasr Al-Einy teaching hospital – where Yacoub regularly performs – for emergency surgery.
The operation, which will cost LE 26,000 ($4,500) will be paid for by the state, the source said.
The decision to treat the accused on state funds was taken by Interior Minister Habib Al-Adly, in order to provide medical assistance to the detained, conforming with international standards of human rights, the source said.
Human Rights organizations have regularly criticized the inadequate medical care given to Egyptian prisoners.
Yacoub, who was born in 1935 to a Coptic-Orthodox Egyptian family, left to England in 1962.
A pioneer in his field, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1992.
