‘My dad did world’s first heart transplant’

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 / 29 Jul ’16, 07:11am

Cape Town – “My father was the first man to perform a heart transplant surgery in the world.” These were the words of Thembinkosi Naki, son of Hamilton Naki, who was part of the team that performed the first heart surgery.

Thembinkosi was speaking at the City of Cape Town’s opening of the community residential units, a block of flats in Langa which have been named after his father.

The late Hamilton Nakis three sons – Seizwe, Thembinkosi and Siyamcela – at the official opening of a new housing complex in Langa, which was named in honour of Naki’s contribution to medicine. Picture: Tracey Adams. Credit: CAPE ARGUS

Speaking of his father’s life, Naki said his dad “never got recognition” for his medical achievements.

Born in 1930, Hamilton moved to Cape Town at 14 from the Eastern Cape and was hired as a gardener working on the tennis court at UCT.

In 1954, Naki said his father was called into the lab by the professor of surgical research, Robert Goetz, during a surgical procedure on a giraffe. Since then, Hamilton worked alongside Goetz and, without any formal education, became a technician at UCT, where he learnt to perform transplants on animals.

“There was no one who taught my father how to do a transplant. He learnt the skill by watching people do it.”

It was reported that Dr Christiaan Barnard, who is hailed for performing the heart transplant procedure, first hinted at Hamilton’s role in the procedure in 2001. In an interview with The Associated Press in 1993, Barnard reportedly said: “Hamilton Naki had better technical skills than I did.”

He further told The Daily Telegraph of London that “he (Hamilton) was a better craftsman than me, especially when it came to stitching, and had very good hands”.

But, the mystery behind the role Hamilton played in that Groote Schuur Hospital operating room in 1967 remains unsolved.

Naki claims his father is the one who carried out the procedure in the presence of Barnard. He said due to the apartheid laws, Hamilton couldn’t take credit for his work because he was black and was not even supposed to step inside a lab. He said Barnard, because he was white, took the credit and all that took place in that theatre room was kept secret.

“When the announcement was made, my father had to step out to the garden, pretending to be a gardener, and watch through the window as Chris and the rest of the team got recognition.

“That thing hurt him so much. Chris got all the awards, but my father got nothing. No school, hospital, or clinic, nothing was named after him and when he retired after serving 42 years in medical science, he walked out with a gardener’s pension.”

After he retired, Hamilton received the Order of Mapungubwe Award from former president Thabo Mbeki. He was also honoured with an honorary Master’s degree in medical science by former UCT chancellor Graça Machel.

The block of flats named after Hamilton is part of the Hostel Transformation project, which has benefited 463 families who were living in the New Flats and Special Quarters hostels and in the Siyahlala informal settlement in Langa.

Mayco member for human settlements Benedicta van Minnen said: “We trust the name Hamilton Naki’ will remind all of us, especially the community of Langa, of his drive and that we will be inspired by his story to follow our dreams, regardless of the many challenges life brings.”

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/my-dad-did-worlds-first-heart-transplant-2050887

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