Today in History: South African cardiac surgeon Chris Barnard dies
The operation performed by Barnard was the world's first highly publicised heart transplant and the first one in which the patient regained consciousness.
On 2 September 2001, Christiaan Neethling Barnard, the world-famous medical pioneer who performed the world’s first heart transplant operation, died.
Barnard performed the operation on Louis Washkansky at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town.
The operation performed by Barnard was the world’s first highly publicised heart transplant and the first one in which the patient regained consciousness.
Groote Schuur Hospital is a large, government-funded teaching hospital situated on the slopes of Devil’s Peak in the city of Cape Town, South Africa.
Barnard died at the age of 78 of an acute asthma attack in his hotel room in the coastal town of Phapos, on the Greek island, Cyprus, where he was on holiday.
Information sourced from: South African History Online.
