Pediatric Cardiology Consultant Dr. Ziad Hegazy summarizes his career in one phrase, “A signature inside every patient’s heart.” He always starts from difficult cases, not from easy operations, as he combines management of the Cardiac Center at Sidra Hospital with the daily practice of medicine.
He believes that the connection with children with congenital deformities becomes deep because they follow him from childhood to adulthood, as stated in the episode (10/19/2026) of the “Al-Hakim” program, which is broadcast on the “Al Jazeera 360” platform and can be followed via this link.
Hegazy explains that his precise specialty is catheter-based therapeutic interventions for heart defects, and he describes them as fates with no clear causes, which attracted him to deal with them. Despite his current position as director of the Heart Center, he insisted on remaining in the operating room.
The child’s father, Bakr, who came from Egypt to Doha, points out that his son was born with an opening between the ventricles and severe narrowing of the pulmonary valve. He explains that the process is complicated because of the small valve ring. The doctor explains that Bakr’s valve calcifies quickly, and that the solution requires placing a new valve inside the old valve via a catheter, to avoid a third open-heart operation.
Dr. Hijazi explains that what most complicated Bakr’s condition was the delivery of a 4.5-centimetre-long stent made of non-soft iron, but he made a decisive decision and succeeded in implanting two stents, then he moved to the valve without the need for open-heart surgery, describing the operating room as the place where his mood changes 100%, with opera music playing in the background.
Challenging difficult cases
Dr. Hegazy points out that he always tends to challenge cases that his colleagues failed to handle, and he believes that all 100% successful operations mean either a lack of experience or a desire to avoid complexity.
The doctor recalls a period of childhood and youth between the ages of 15 and 18, during which he lived in extreme poverty, under the care of a military father with a small salary and 8 children, which was a strong motivation for him to excel and obtain a mission from the armed forces.
Hijazi graduated from the University of Jordan in 1982, after which he moved to Yale University in Connecticut to obtain a master’s degree in public health, before moving to specialize in cardiology in America.
The doctor’s journey began with the first catheterized pulmonary valve implantation operation in the United States, Canada, and South America on December 15, 2005, which he performed on a patient named Justin. Although preparations for the operation faced a number of technical and administrative complications, they succeeded in the end.
The death rate during operations, which amounts to 0.5%, gives Dr. Hegazy psychological comfort after 30 years of saving patients, pointing out that he aspires to abolish open-heart surgery for patients with congenital malformations, and make it performed by catheterization, and even heart transplants.
The cardiologist indicates that this is a big dream, but he hopes that future generations will achieve it if he does not achieve it. He believes that medicine is a life, a passion, and a complete dedication of time and effort, advising new doctors to work hard.