Sheikh J Hussain
jawadkhayal@icloud.com
When the 2026 Pride of Britain Awards ceremony took place recently, one moment stood out above all others. Nineteen young people walked onto the stage. They ranged in age from ten years old to forty-three. Each one had a story to tell. And every single one of them was alive today because of one man after definitely almighty Allah. That man was seventy-year-old Dr Asif Hasan, a heart surgeon from Newcastle whose family roots are in Pakistan. He stood there with tears in his eyes as these former patients surrounded him. He told everyone he was just doing his job. But the whole nation saw something far greater. They saw a man who had spent thirty-six years saving thousands of young lives. They saw a Pakistani born doctor who became not just a credit to his adopted country Britain but also a source of immense pride for every Pakistani around the world.Dr Asif Hasan was born in Pakistan and received his early medical education there before making Britain his home. He joined the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1995 as a consultant paediatric cardiothoracic surgeon.
Over the next three and a half decades he built a reputation that reached across the globe. He performed more than four thousand open-heart operations on children. Around three thousand of those he led as the main surgeon. He carried out approximately four hundred heart transplants. And those numbers do not include the countless emergency calls he answered in the middle of the night or the procedures he performed when everyone else had said it was too difficult.What made Dr Hasan truly special was that he never turned a child away. Other hospitals would sometimes say a case was too risky or too complicated. Dr Asif Hasan would say yes. He found ways to do what others thought impossible. He invented new surgical techniques that are now used worldwide. One such method known as the bootlace closure allows surgeons to use donor hearts that would otherwise be too small for a child. Without this simple but brilliant idea many children who are alive today would not have made it. He helped introduce the Berlin Heart device which keeps children alive while they wait for a transplant giving precious time to families who had almost run out of hope.He did not just perform operations and then walk away. He would sit by a child’s bedside through the night to watch over their recovery. He would operate on a baby just hours after they were born. He would find the solutions when every other door had closed. And even during his holidays he travelled back to Pakistan to run charity surgical camps helping children who might never have received treatment otherwise. He also trained a whole new generation of surgeons many of whom are now working across the world carrying forward the skills he had so generously shared.We live in times when some people try to create division. Some people speak as though immigrants bring nothing but difficulty. They forget or choose not to see the truth that people who come to a new land often give more than they ever take. Dr Asif Hasan’s story is the perfect answer to those voices. He came to Britain from another country and he gave this nation thirty six years of his life. He saved thousands of British children. He advanced medical science so that children everywhere could benefit. He did not take from Britain he poured his heart and soul into serving its people.
This is the true contribution that millions of immigrants have made and continue to make every single day.This award belongs not just to one remarkable man. It belongs to every person who has left their homeland to build a better life elsewhere. It belongs to every Pakistani doctor engineer teacher or worker who wakes up early works hard and conducts themselves with dignity no matter where they are in the world. It sends a powerful message that success does not mean forgetting where you came from. It means carrying your values your character and your respect for your homeland with you everywhere you go. It means that when you do well in another country your success reflects well on the nation you left behind.To all those young people from Pakistan who dream of studying working or building a life in Europe or Britain remember this. Wherever you go whatever you achieve always remember who you are. Whether you belong to any community or faith always carry the best of your homeland with you in your character. Work hard be honest treat people kindly and serve the community you join. That is how you honour the country that raised you. That is how you build bridges rather than walls. And that is how you make both your adopted home and your homeland equally proud. Dr Asif Hasan did not have to choose between Britain and Pakistan. He loved and served both. And both nations can proudly claim him as their own.When Dr Asif Hasan received his award he said something very humble. He said he was just an ordinary man working with extraordinary colleagues. But to the thousands of families whose children are alive today and to millions of people in both Britain and Pakistan he is far more than that.
He is proof that one person with skill compassion and unshakeable dedication can change the world. He is a surgeon a pioneer a teacher and above all a gentleman. And he will always remain a shining example of what one human being can achieve when they lead with their heart.
