Chris Barnard dies aged 78

CAPE TOWN -- Tributes to the late Dr Chris Barnard, the pioneering South African surgeon who performed the world's first heart transplant in 1967, flowed in yesterday.

Barnard died in the Cyprus resort town of Paphos yesterday at the age of 78, hospital officials there said. He was pronounced dead on arrival at a Paphos hospital.

Barnard Foundation spokesman Billy Stewart said he had died of an asthma attack.

Barnard had been swimming in the hotel pool before going upstairs to his room to lie down when the attack happened.

Democratic Alliance spokesman Mike Ellis said here that South Africa owed Barnard an enormous amount in positive international exposure for the country.

"He was a doyen of the heart transplant process and no doubt his work encouraged many countries and heart specialist throughout the world to give new hope to patients with cardiac problems.

"Barnard's death is a timely reminder of the debt the world owes him for his pioneering spirit," Ellis said.

Dr Ruth Rabinowitz of the Inkatha Freedom Party said he was one of the giants in South African medicine and had certainly put the country on the scientific map.

"Another sad irony is that he was relatively young, but spent much time searching for the elixir of youth."

However, Barnard's contribution to medical science would make him timeless, Rabinowitz said.

SA Medical Association (Sama) president Bernard Mandell, who knew Barnard personally, lauded the surgeon for being the first to have the "courage" to go ahead with the transplant.

Although others had the technology, they lacked the courage and held back, Mandell said from East London. "No one can take away from him what he achieved."

Describing Barnard as an extrovert with an "exceptional personality", Mandell said Sama was immensely proud of what he did.

Also, Barnard did not take all the credit for himself, but shared it with his transplant team from the University of Cape Town.

It was odd that Barnard was never awarded a Nobel prize.

However, Barnard himself once said that if he had to choose between the Nobel prize and women, he would choose women, Mandell said.

"That epitomises the kind of man he was ... no nurse in the hospital was immune to him."

Agence France Presse reported Cypriot Health Minister Frixos Savvides as having said: "We are all very deeply saddened to hear of Dr Barnard's passing."

Barnard was among three men who were honoured on Men's World Day last year.

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev presented the first World Health Award to Barnard at a gala in Vienna.

Former president Nelson Mandela expressed shock and sorrow at Barnard's death.

"His death is a great loss to the country after all the contributions he made. He was also very vocal against apartheid."

President Thabo Mbeki's spokesman Bheki Khumalo last night described Barnard as a symbol of excellence and humanism.

Khumalo told Sapa that the president was shocked to learn that SA had lost a person who was dedicated to serving others.

"Barnard has set a good example in many ways. He was an inspiration to the youth especially in the field of medicine," Khumalo said.

*Barnard was born Christiaan Neethling Barnard in Beaufort West on November 8, 1922, to a family which was so poor that he decided to study medicine to help them financially.

In 1969 he went through his first divorce, from Aletta (Louwtjie) Louw (whom he had married in 1948), and was married again the following year to the 19-year-old Barbara Zoellner.

He was divorced again in 1982 and married again to model Karin Setzkorn, who was 41 years his junior, in 1988. They divorced last year.

He was plagued by illness since the eighties, and was forced to give up surgery in 1983 as result of arthritis.

In January 2000 he underwent painful facial skin grafts and laser surgery to treat skin cancer. He spent his last Christmas in hospital in Vienna, after having an operation to mend a broken leg. -- DDC-Sapa