Cape Town - Until Wednesday, Tasche Adams of Stellenbosch had only a vague understanding of South Africa’s first heart transplant performed 48 years ago.
“I remember my dad telling me about Professor Chris Barnard… that he was the first surgeon to perform a human heart transplant. Other than what my dad told me I didn’t know much about him,” she said.
But that changed when the Grade 11 pupil from Stellenbosch Waldorf School not only learnt more about this South African icon but, with her fellow pupils, had first-hand experience of what took place in Groote Schuur’s operating theatre on this day nearly five decades ago.
The pupils learned more about the operation performed by Barnard on Louis Washkansky, thanks to the Heart of Cape Town Museum.
“Not only do I know much more about Chris Barnard, but I’m seriously considering doing medicine after seeing what happened that day,” she said.
The museum, which is within that hospital’s old building, has not only documented the history of the world-renowned transplant, but has over the past eight years given visitors and tourists a “real feel” of that historical day.
The museum’s tour guide, Trace Adamo, said the facility, a Cape Heritage site, had attracted thousands of pupils and international tourists over the years.
Having opened on December 3, 2007, the privately-run museum has incorporated the original operating theatres and preserved the medical equipment that was used to perform the operation.
Silicone models of the surgical team give visitors an analogous experience of the events of December 3, 1967.
Adamo said the museum, which attracted about 10 000 tourists every year, had visitor mostly schools from the US and African countries such as Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
The museum documented everything about the first heart transplant, the controversial politics that affected transplant decisions in apartheid South Africa, and Barnard’s professional and personal life.
It honoured everyone who played a major role in a surgical achievement, which put South Africa on the world map.
The museum also brought attention to ethical and moral implications during apartheid.
“We tell visitors about the amazing part of South African history… the good and the ugly side of transplant history and how discrimination laws affected transplants. This is where history was made in our country. Despite our ugly history, the transplant that happened here 48 years ago definitely put this country on the map,” she said.
One of the visitors at the museum yesterday was Angela Hebb, a scientist from Yorkshire, England.
Hebb, who specialises in transplant immunology at St James Hospital in Leeds, described the experiences as “intriguing”.
“Even though I’m used to the transplant environment because I work in it back home, I found the whole experience intriguing. I’ve never seen a heart transplant so it was interesting to observe how they performed the surgery back then.
“I also found it odd to hear that donors used to be named publicly… in England such information has always been anonymous. But overall it was very interesting to see where history was made.”
Cape Argus