(ECNS) -- Surgeon Ren Xiaoping has denied media reports that a Chinese patient is likely to undergo the world's first full head transplant at the end of 2017, Xinhua reports.
Ren, from Harbin Medical University in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, has been the subject of frequent reports that he would partner with Italian doctor Sergio Canavero to attempt the head transplant procedure.
The Times of India said in its latest article that a medical team has been assembled and that the surgery would take place in China.
But Ren said the report was groundless since neither the surgery time nor location has been decided. He said research still has a long way to go and the team is far from ready to conduct the surgery.
Ren and his team have been performing head transplants on animals for about three years. Current priorities are to address technical challenges and ethical issues as well as search, it was said.
A head transplant on a human would have to comply with a country's regulations and no doctor or researcher can make decisions on their own, Ren noted.
Xinhua said the Indian media report was not serious professional writing and appears to be based on online chats.
