The uneducated surgeon.

Cape Town's uneducated surgeon Mr. Hamilton, who was awarded the honorary degree of Master of Medicine, could neither read nor write. Let's see how this was possible. Cape Town Medical University has a leading position in the medical world. The world's first bypass operation took place at the same university. This university conferred the honorary degree of Master of Medicine, to a man who had never seen the face of a school in his life, who could not read an English word and could not write.

But one morning in 2003, world-renowned surgeon Professor David Dent announced in the university auditorium : "Today we are awarding an honorary degree in medicine to the man who produced the most surgeons in the world, who is an extraordinary teacher and an amazing surgeon and who studied medical science and surprised the human mind". With this announcement, the professor took the name "Hamilton" and the entire auditorium stood and greeted him. It was the biggest reception in the history of the university.

Hamilton was born in Sanitani, a remote village in Cape Town. His parents were shepherds, he wore goat skin and he walked in the mountains, barefoot, all day. As a child, his father fell ill, so he left the sheep and goats and moved to Cape Town. Construction was underway at the University of Cape Town in those days. He joined the university as a labourer. He would send home as much money as he could get after a hard day's work and he used to sleep in the open ground by chewing gram himself. He worked as a labourer for many years. The construction process ended. He got the job of mowing the tennis courts. He arrived at the tennis courts every day and mowed the lawn. He did this for three years. Then came a strange turn in his life. He reached a point in medical science where no one else had ever been.

It was a mild, warm morning. Professor Robert Joyce, researching giraffes, wanted to see : "When a giraffe bends its neck to drink water, why doesn't it have a seizure?" They laid a giraffe on the operating table, knocked it unconscious but as soon as the operation started, the giraffe shook its head. So they needed a strong man to keep the giraffe's neck tight during the operation. The professor came out of the theatre. Hamilton was mowing the lawn in the front, the professor saw that he was a healthy young man of strong nature. They beckoned him and ordered him to grab the giraffe's neck. Hamilton grabbed his neck and held it. The operation lasted eight hours. During this time, the doctor continued to take tea and coffee breaks, however Hamilton stood holding the giraffe's neck. When the operation was over, he quietly went out and started mowing the lawn.

The next day the professor called him again, he came and grabbed the giraffe's neck and stood up, after which it became his routine. He worked double the hours for many months but he demanded no additional compensation for this duty and nor did he complain. Professor Robert Joyce was impressed by his perseverance and sincerity and Hamilton was promoted from mowing the tennis courts to "lab assistant". He now came to the university, went to the operating theatre and helped the surgeons. This process continued for years.

In 1958 came another turning point in his life. This year Dr Bernard came to the university and started heart transplant operations. Hamilton became his assistant, during these operations, he went from assistant to additional surgeon. Now the doctors operated and after the operation, he was given the task of stitching. He used to do excellent stitches. His fingers were clean and fast. He stitched fifty people in one day. While working in the operating theatre, he began to understand the human body more than surgeons. So the senior doctors gave him the responsibility of teaching the junior doctors. He now began teaching surgery techniques to junior doctors. He gradually became the most important figure in the university. He was unfamiliar with the terms of medical science. But he was the best surgeon in the world.

The third turning point in his life came in 1970, when research on the liver began that year and he identified one such liver artery during surgery......which made liver transplantation easier. His remarks astonished the great minds of medical science. Today, when a person has a liver operation in some corner of the world and the patient opens his eyes and sees the light, the reward for this successful operation goes directly to Hamilton. 

Hamilton achieved this position with sincerity and perseverance. He was associated with the University of Cape Town for 50 years and in those 50 years he never took a vacation. He would leave home at three o'clock at night, walk 14 miles to the university and would enter the theatre at, exactly, six o'clock. People used to fix their watches with his time.

He received an honour that no one in medical science has ever received. He was the first illiterate teacher of medical history. He was the first illiterate surgeon to train 30,000 surgeons in his lifetime. He died in 2005 and was buried at the university. It was then made compulsory for surgeons to pass out from the university after obtaining their degree, to go to his grave, take a picture and then get into practical life.

"You know how he got this position". Only one yes. "The day he was called to the operating theatre to grab the giraffe's neck, if he had refused that day, if he had said that day, "I am a Grounds Maintenance Worker, my job is not to hold the giraffe's neck", he would never have become anything more than a lawn mover. It was a yes and an extra eight hours of hard work that opened the door to success for him and he became a surgeon. 

"Most of us have been looking for a job all our lives. While we must find work". Every job in the world has one criterion and the job is available only to those who meet the criteria while if you wanted to do work, you could start any work in the world in a few minutes and no power in the world would be able to stop you. Hamilton had found the secret, he gave importance to the work rather than a job. Thus it changed the history of medical science. Imagine if he applied for a surgeon's job, could he have become a surgeon? Never, but he put the hoe down and held the giraffe's neck and became a surgeon.

There are scores of unemployed people. They fail because they just look for a job, not for work. The day we start working like Hamilton, we will sow the seeds of greatness in ourselves.

Hamilton Naki was a laboratory assistant to cardiac surgeon Dr Christian Barnard in South Africa.

Tailpiece.

Got up at our usual time of 6, the chores and was ready by a quarter to 10. We set off for Shenoy Care but found that we were a bit too early vis a vis Lekha's time of appointment. The doctor saw her around a quarter past 2 and he was happy to see her improvement and her overall medical condition.

We, then, made a dash for Satish Bhat's clinic but I'd to finish lunch before he could see me since my sugar level was dipping, wonder why? The funniest thing was that I'd no discomfort whatsoever!

Reached my sister's place by a quarter to 6 and Padmakumar was a great help in navigating to their house. I seem to be bothering him everyday as I still haven't been able to get my bearings to get the right route.