The City of Cape Town want to honour “unsung hero” Hamilton Naki by renaming Salazaar Plain‚ a small street next to the newly built Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital‚ after him.
Naki was the laboratory assistant to Dr Christiaan Barnard who performed the world’s first heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in 1967.
The city’s naming and nominations’ committee has approved a proposal by Netcare Limited‚ which built the hospital‚ to name the street in honour of Naki.
Naki first worked at the Groote Schuur Hospital as a gardener and he was later selected to work as a laboratory assistant.
Following years of work in the medical field‚ he was awarded with an honorary degree in medicine after his retirement in 1991.
In a statement on Wednesday‚ Brett Herron‚ who chairs the committee‚ said they unanimously agreed on the renaming.
It is now up to mayor Patricia De Lille’s mayoral committee to approve a public participation process.
“Hamilton Naki was a healthcare scientist from Langa who was denied the opportunity for formal medical training due to the discriminating policies of the then apartheid government. Naki assisted Dr Christiaan Barnard in his preparations to perform the world’s first successful heart transplant in the Groote Schuur Hospital in 1967‚” said Herron.
He said Naki’s involvement received very little acknowledgement at the time of the operation.
“2017 marks the 50th anniversary of this historic moment‚ offering us the ideal opportunity to celebrate and honour the contribution that Naki made‚” he said.
Herron said the proposal was also supported by Naki’s family.
“Despite his lack of formal medical education‚ Naki’s technique and surgical skills convinced the superiors to allow him special permission to conduct research in the laboratories. Naki enlisted as Barnard’s assistant upon the latter’s return from the United States and contributed to the development of transplant techniques‚” said Herron.
- TMG Digital/Sunday Times
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 