WORLD, Hamilton Naki, 78, cloaked surgical skills in South Africa NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition

CAPE TOWN, South Africa- [Hamilton Naki], a former gardener who was so skilled in complicated surgery that he helped in the world's first heart transplant - but had to keep his work secret in apartheid South Africa - died May 29. He was 78. In 1954 Naki was promoted to helping care for laborato...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNewsday
Main Author THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Long Island, N.Y Newsday LLC 13.06.2005
EditionCombined editions
Subjects
Naki, Hamilton
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Summary:CAPE TOWN, South Africa- [Hamilton Naki], a former gardener who was so skilled in complicated surgery that he helped in the world's first heart transplant - but had to keep his work secret in apartheid South Africa - died May 29. He was 78. In 1954 Naki was promoted to helping care for laboratory animals and progressed from cleaning cages to more advanced lab work after a professor at the university asked him to help anesthetize animals used to train students in surgery. [Christiaan Barnard] asked Naki to be on the backup team in what became the world's first successful heart transplant, in December 1967. It was in violation of the country's laws on racial segregation, which dictated that blacks should not be given medical training, nor have contact with white patients.