19673 December 1967 · Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town

First human heart transplant

The Old Main Building of Groote Schuur Hospital below the slopes of Devil's Peak — Photo: Danie van der Merwe. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

At Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, a team led by the surgeon Christiaan Barnard transplanted the heart of a young road-accident victim, Denise Darvall, into Louis Washkansky, a 53-year-old grocer. Washkansky lived for 18 days before dying of pneumonia, but the operation made world headlines and, with better drugs against rejection, heart transplants became routine.

Sites

Site 1: Heart of Cape Town Museum, Groote Schuur HospitalThe original operating theatres, restored with equipment and figures of the team.Map ↗

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