DHAKA: A South African man who received the world's first successful penis transplant is to become a father just months after undergoing surgery.

His doctor said Friday, The Straits Times publishes this report on Saturday.

Urologist Andre van der Merwe, who led the team that performed the operation, told the media that the 21-year-old’s girlfriend was pregnant.

‘He said that she is about four months pregnant. They are very happy with it and we also very happy,’ said Van der Merwe, who is based at Stellenbosch University.

‘We are happy that there were no complications and his penis is functioning well,’ he said.

There was nothing preventing the patient from having children because his testicles, where sperm is produced, were not affected.

Van der Merwe has previously admitted surprise at the speed of the man’s recovery of sexual function however, saying the original goal was that ‘he would be fully functional at two years’.

The man, whose identity has not been revealed, received his new penis from an organ donor in a nine-hour operation on December 11 at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town.

His own penis had to be amputated three years earlier after a botched traditional circumcision.

The procedure, which often leads to disastrous infections and complications, is performed on boys and young men as a rite of passage to adulthood in some rural parts of South Africa.

BDST: 1153 HRS, JUN 14, 2015
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