Hamilton Naki

Hamilton Naki (born June 26, 1926 in Ngcingane, Transkeian Territories , † May 29, 2005 in Langa near Cape Town , Western Cape ) was a South African gardener and laboratory assistant. He initially worked as a gardener at the University of Cape Town and later as a laboratory and surgical assistant for transplants in animal experiments under Christiaan Barnard . He was also allowed to bring surgical procedures on animals closer to younger surgeons. In this way he (as a black South African) made a decisive contribution to the fact that the first heart transplant came about. However, whether he was involved in the operation himself is highly controversial. There were various press releases claiming this, but they later had to be revised. The statement by his former superior Stefan von Sommoggy in the Deutsches Ärzteblatt also speaks against this .

Life

Hamilton Naki, born in the Transkei village of Ngcingane , had to leave school at the age of 14 because his parents could no longer afford to send their son to school. To find work, Naki went to Cape Town a little later, where he initially found work as a gardener at the University of Cape Town Medical School. One of his tasks was to maintain the tennis courts.

In the period that followed, Naki was allowed to undertake other tasks. He was first used by the head of the animal experiment laboratory Robert Goetz , who had fled from Nazi Germany to South Africa, for anesthesia in animal operations for training purposes. Once he was allowed to assist in an operation on a giraffe. His great skill and his great willingness and ability to learn were noticeable. Thanks to his experience as an assistant in animal experiments, he was soon able to teach students in this field. According to the Economist, despite these special duties, Naki only received a gardener's pay, which was the equivalent of about $ 270 a month. But there is also disagreement about this salary: According to reports in the New York Times, Naki was paid appropriately for his work, and he did not die penniless.

According to Naki's own account, he was also involved in the first successful heart transplant, with which the team made history on December 3, 1967, and took on a technically very demanding part of the operation with the removal and preparation of the heart. This version was also circulated in the obituaries after his death. A few weeks later, however , the Economist published a correction based on testimony from doctors at Groote Schur Hospital and a source close to Naki, according to which he was not present at the operation because, as a colored and medical layperson, he was not allowed at all Had operating rooms. This is confirmed by other sources as well.

Due to apartheid in South Africa, Naki's achievements remained a secret for a long time. Even if he can be seen in the background on press photos after the successful transplant, he was always presented as a cleaning aid when asked. Barnard himself did not admit until many years later, shortly before his death, that Naki might not only have better surgical talent than himself, but also that Naki made a significant contribution to research in transplant medicine. In 2003 Naki was therefore awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Cape Town.

reception

In 2008, with Hidden Heart (English subtitle: "The Story of Christian Barnard and Hamilton Naki") a documentary was published that traces the story of Naki. As part of their research, director Werner Schweizer and the Zurich journalist Cristina Karrer interviewed contemporary witnesses and used archive recordings.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Margalit Fox: Hamilton Naki, 78, Self-Taught Surgeon, Dies , In: New York Times , June 11, 2005.
   Note: There is an Editors Note : [1] (at the end of the page), which is referred to later will be referred to in the article.
2. ↑ Alastair Leithead: Gardener behind Africa's Heart Pioneer , BBC News, May 9, 2003.
3. ^ Corrections: Hamilton Naki , September 1, 2005. doi : 10.1136 / bmj.331.7515.519-f
4. ^ Margalit Fox: Editors Note . In: New York Times, August 27, 2005.
   Note: The Editors Note is at the very end of the article
5. ^ Department of Error . In: "The Lancet", August 13, 2005. doi : 10.1016 / S0140-6736 (05) 67097-3
6. ↑ Stefan von Sommoggy: Hidden Heart: As a friend and colleague . In: "Deutsches Ärzteblatt", 105 (47), 2008
7. ↑ ^{a b c} Rory Carroll: Two men transplanted the first human heart. One ended up rich and famous - the other had to pretend to be a gardener. Until now ( memento from April 25, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) . In: "The Guardian", April 25, 2003.
8. ^ IE Konstantinov: Cardiology's 10 greatest discoveries. In: Texas Heart Institute journal. Volume 29, number 4, 2002, p. 344, PMID 12484627 , PMC 140305 (free full text).
9. ↑ Hamilton Naki, an unrecognized surgical pioneer, died on May 29th, aged 78 . In: “The Economist”, June 9, 2005
   Note: This source is only intended to support the statement about Naki's pension. Regarding the statement about his contribution to the first heart transplant, there was this important correction, which will be quoted again later in the article.
10. ^ ^{A b} Michael Wines: Accounts of South African's Career Now Seen as Overstated . In: "New York Times", August 27, 2005
11. ^ Apartheid's Shadow . In: "The Economist", July 14, 2005.
12. ↑ Werner Bartens : The pioneer of heart surgery: First transplant 50 years ago. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung of December 3, 2017 http://www.sueddeutsche.de/gesundheit/medizingeschichte-der-pionier-der-herzchirurgie-erste-transplantation-vor-jahren-1.3773872
13. ↑ Clare Kapp: Hamilton Naki . In: "The Lancet", Edition (Volume) 366, July 2, 2005. doi : 10.1016 / S0140-6736 (05) 66811-0
    Note: There was a correction to the article . This has already been cited earlier in the article.
14. ↑ Christopher Munnion: 'Gardener' honored with degree in medicne . In: "The Telegraph", June 23, 2003.
15. ↑ Hidden Heart , RealFictionFilme.de

Web links

• Obituary of the Economist and correction to it
• Contemporary Africa Database ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English)