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Fatwa CenterHeparin as Treatment
Question
I am nurse and I been working at Hospital over a year now. I work dialysis unit. Most patient get heparin to prevent from clotting their blood while they are on the dialysis machine. heparin derived from pork. is it halal to administer heparin as a nurse? Thank you so muchYusuf
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Heparin is extracted from both pigs and cows. If there is no substitute for the heparin that is extracted from pigs and it is necessary to use it to prevent blood clotting, then this is a dire necessity that makes it permissible to use the heparin extracted from pig, as in a dire necessity eating pork itself becomes permissible.
Many verdicts have been issued by the Islamic Fiqh Council on the ruling of using this substance. The Council decided in its seventeenth session held in Makkah, the following:
1. It is permissible to be treated with the new low-molecular-weight heparin when there is no substitute for treatment or if the alternative prolongs the period of treatment.
2. This substance should be used only to the extent of what is needed. However, if a pure alternative is available, then this alternative must be used as a way of acting according to the principle, and so that we take into consideration the difference of opinion (of the scholars).
3. The Council recommends that the Ministers of Health in Islamic countries should coordinate with the manufacturers of medicines of heparin, and new low-molecular-weight heparin, so that they would manufacture it only from a pure bovine source.
Allah knows best.
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