Historical Organization
Groote Schuur Hospital
Barnard led a large Groote Schuur Hospital team in the first human-to-human heart transplant.
The patient was given the heart of Denise Darvall, who had died after a road accident.
Nurses, surgeons, anesthetists, technicians and laboratory staff were needed for the procedure.
The surgery was performed in South Africa’s segregated medical system; its wider social context belongs in the history.
