Hamilton Naki was a black South African man who played a key role in the world's first heart transplant surgery in 1967, removing the donor heart, but was not given credit due to apartheid policies. Despite facing racial discrimination and low pay, Naki taught himself surgery by observing doctors and became a highly skilled surgeon, performing operations and lecturing students, though secretly due to his race. Naki dedicated his life to helping others through medicine despite facing injustice and lived quietly after apartheid ended.

1. Dr. HAMILTON NAKI THE CLANDESTINE ‘BLACK’ SURGEON Vertaald uit het Frans – Freddy Storm 02/2011

2. Hamilton Naki, a black South-African 78 years of age died in May 2005. The news did not apear in the newspapers, but his story is one of the most extraordinary of the 20th centruy. NAKI WAS A GREAT SURGEON!

3. He is the one who in 1967 removed the heart of a female donor, the heart that subsequently was transplanted, into the body of Louis Washkanky , during the first successful heart transplant operation on a human in Capetown. It was a very delicate procedure: the heart had to be removed with the greatest of care and then stored.

4. NAKI was the second most important man in the team that performed the first hearttransplant in history. But he was not allowed to be shown anywhare, because he was a BLACK man in country where apartheid was the most important rule.

5. The head surgeon of the team, the white man, Dr. Christian Barnard , was soon world famous.

6. But Hamilton Naki was not allowed to be seen on the photographs of the team. When he was accidentally shown on a photo, the hospital staff explained that he was a member of the cleaning team.

7. Naki wore the headcover and the mask, but he had never studied medicine or surgery. He left school at the age of 14. He was gardener at the School of Medicine in Capetown.

18. Despite the clandestine title and the race discrimination he continued to give the best of himself because of the love to help others through life.