THE new Heart of Cape Town Museum at Groote Schuur Hospital is a fascinating chronicle of the world’s first heart transplant performed here by world-renowned surgeon Professor Christiaan Barnard more than 40 years ago.

The museum successfully captures the drama surrounding the famous December 3, 1967 operation that catapulted Barnard into world celebrity status and positioned South Africa at the forefront of cardiac surgery worldwide. Visitors are able to relive an essential part of South African history through a series of live-size wax model tableaux in the same theatres where the story unfolded. There is extensive historical documentation including newspaper clippings and congratulatory letters from all over the world, plus a 20-minute insightful film on the great surgeon himself. A bit freaky for some may be the preserved hearts of the donors and the recipients! Homage is paid to the donor, 25-year-old Denise Darvall, who was run over by a drunk driver while on a family outing not far from the hospital. The museum also tells the story of 53-year-old Louis Washkansky, the first heart transplant patient who lived for 18 days after the operation, but eventually succumbed to bilateral pneumonia. In addition, it reveals the role of Hamilton Naki, a Xhosa assistant in the University of Cape Town’s animal laboratory who trained junior doctors in organ transplants and was eventually awarded an honorary doctorate.

Particularly gratifying is the fact that the museum takes a warts-and-all look at the historic event. It explores it within the context of Apartheid South Africa; examines the criticism directed at Barnard against the backdrop of worldwide competition among heart surgeons to perform the first heart transplant; and explores the ethical and religious questions surrounding the definition of the moment of death.

The museum is the brainchild of businessman Hennie Joubert, who spent R4.8m and five years to remodel Groote Schuur’s old Heart Transplant Museum, sourcing authentic historical material down to the correct colour tiles in the operating theatre and recreating Barnard’s office down to the correct 1970s-style briefcase.

The museum is open seven days a week between 08h00 and 19h00, operates two-hour long pre-arranged guided tours and offers transport to and from hotels. Entry fees are R200 for overseas visitors, R100 for SA adults, R50 for students & pensioners and R25 for children. School groups get a reduced price. Tour operators and travel agents earn 10% commission. (www.heartofcapetown.co.za)

Picture: Life-like wax models allow visitors to the Heart of Cape Town Museum to get a sense of the drama that unfolded when Prof Christiaan Barnard performed the first heart transplant here in 1967.