Malaysia's first transplanted kidney recipient has died of a kidney-related problem after being bitten by a stray cat, a local newspaper reported Monday.

Martin Rinyeb, who was also the country's longest-surviving kidney transplant patient, died on March 25 of complications from a bite by a stray cat after living 31 years with a kidney from his younger brother, the New Straits Times said.

Martin Rinyeb, a native in Malaysia's eastern state of Sarawak, received a donor kidney from his younger brother in Hospital Kuala Lumpur on December 15, 1975, when urologist Hussein Awang made Malaysian medical history with the transplant operation.

The newspaper said that more than 1,000 kidney transplants have been carried out since then in Malaysia.

Source: Xinhua