Documentary overview

About Hamilton Naki & Christian Barnard: The Untold Truth Behind the World's First Heart Transplant

Cape Town, 1967 – The first human heart was successfully transplanted from one person to another by Dr. Christian Barnard. Barnard experienced a meteoric rise into the world of glamour and the jet set, unlike any other doctor before or since. The first heart transplant took place in a country with the most radical race laws in the world — the team of the first heart transplant was presented to the international press as entirely white. Post-Apartheid, 2003 – A Black man named Hamilton Naki suddenly claimed he had been part of the team during the first heart transplant in 1967. In an interview with an American TV station, Hamilton Naki said that he had carried the donor’s heart from Denise Darvall into the adjoining operating theater and had helped Barnard transplant it into Washkansky’s open chest. Naki died in 2005. Everyone who knew him, Black or white, spoke of him with great respect. He was an honest worker, a very talented surgeon, hardworking but humble. Naki worked for decades in the animal laboratory where Barnard carried out crucial experiments

Hamilton Naki & Christian Barnard: The Untold Truth Behind the World's First Heart Transplant is presented by wocomoDOCS. Its listed runtime is 94 minutes. The source link and publisher attribution are provided with the embedded film.

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Documentary details and original source

Title
Hamilton Naki & Christian Barnard: The Untold Truth Behind the World's First Heart Transplant
Category
Society
Runtime
94 minutes
Language
English
Publisher
wocomoDOCS

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