South Africa is no stranger to organ transplants. The world’s first heart transplant was performed in the country in the 1960s. There have been major developments in the decades since then. In the 1980s an organ donor registry was set up and local surgeons have been pushing the boundaries of what is possible. The Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre recently marked a milestone of completing 1,000 liver transplants since initiating its programme in 2004.
The Conversation Africa asked Jerome Loveland, head of transplant surgery at the centre and academic head of transplantation at the University of the Witwatersrand, about the current state – and future – of liver transplantation in the country.
