Johannesburg (AFP) - 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. 
 
 Urologist Andre van der Merwe, who led the team that performed the operation, told AFP 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". 
 
 View gallery A boy cries before being circumcised in Shinyalu, in Kakamega, on August 8, 2014 (AFP Photo/Simon Ma … 
 
 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. 
 
 "These young men don't have a penis so they have to sit to urinate, so the first objective is to make them be able to stand to urinate, like other men do," Van der Merwe told AFP. 
 
 "Secondly the objective is for them to have normal sexual intercourse if and when they want, so the second objective was met," he added. 
 
 "He's got a normal sensual penis. His sensation has recovered 100 percent at this stage, and he has got normal erections and he is sexually active. 
 
 "We can say that the third objective -- to conceive a baby, or for him to be able to conceive with his partner -- has (also) been met." 
 
 Van der Merwe said he had not examined the man's partner but had no reason to disbelieve that he had impregnated her as he was a "stable young man" and had been in a relationship with the woman for a number of years. 
 
 He said his team had been inundated with requests from men who have had similar amputations but could not take everyone. 
 
 "Right now we have about nine people on our programme," he said, pointing out that finding penis donors would be one of the challenges, as with any other organ. 
 
 "I don't think it would be easy but I believe people will now come forward because of this positive case," he said. 

 Image copyright Stellenbosch University Image caption The penile transplant operation lasted for about nine hours 
 
 The South African recipient of the world's first penile transplant is to become a father, a surgeon who performed the operation has told the BBC. 
 
 His girlfriend has reported that she is about four months pregnant, and this showed that the "transplant worked", said Andre van der Merwe. 
 
 The 21-year-old recipient, whose identify is being protected, lost his penis in a botched circumcision. 
 
 The operation took place in December. 
 
 Surgeons at Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital performed a nine-hour operation to attach a donated penis. 
 
 Dr Van der Merwe said he was "very pleased" when he heard that the man's girlfriend was pregnant, and had not asked for a paternity test as there was no reason not to believe the couple. 
 
 Further transplants 
 
 "This is what we intended, that he should be able to stand up and be able to urinate and have intercourse, so it is a milestone for him," Dr Van der Merwe told the BBC. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption These boys are undergoing a circumcision ceremony in South Africa 
 
 He had not expected the man to be infertile, as he had an issue with his penis, not his testicles, the surgeon added. 
 
 Dr Van der Merwe said the surgical team is yet to review the success of the operation, and may then carry out further transplants. 
 
 The boy had been left with just 1cm of his original penis as a result of the botched circumcision. He was 18 and sexually active at the time. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Andre van der Merwe was one of the surgeons who carried out the ground-breaking procedure 
 
 When attaching the donated penis, the surgical team used some of the techniques that had been developed to perform the first face transplants in order to connect the tiny blood vessels and nerves. 
 
 There have been attempts at penis transplants before, including one in China. 
 
 Accounts suggested the operation went well, but the penis was later rejected. 
 
 Doctors say South Africa has some of the greatest need for penis transplants in the world. 
 
 Dozens, some say hundreds, of boys are maimed or die each year during traditional initiation ceremonies.
– The world saw its first successful penis transplant last year, and the patient has some news for anyone skeptical about the end result: His girlfriend is pregnant. Lead surgeon Andre van der Merwe confirmed the news about the unidentified 21-year-old to South Africa's News24. Even more remarkable: The girlfriend is about four months along, meaning she became pregnant around two months after the December surgery. "This is what we intended, that he should be able to stand up and be able to urinate, and have intercourse, so it is a milestone for him," the surgeon tells the BBC. But it's way ahead of schedule: Van der Merwe originally cautioned that it could take about two years for the man's penis to be fully functional; that's the amount of time it takes a man who has had his penis severed and then reattached to regain all function. He adds that a paternity test wasn't requested by his team because there's no reason to doubt the couple. Van der Merwe also points out that the issue was with his penis, not testicles, so his "sperm wasn't affected." The patient lost his penis in circumcision-gone-wrong when he was 18; the BBC notes less than half-an-inch of his original penis was left after that procedure. Van der Merwe tells the AFP that there are "about nine people" waiting to undergo the operation, but they need to first secure a donor penis. (The patient's life "was hell" before the surgery.)