50 years since first heart transplant Dec 03,1967 - Dec 03,2017

Fifty years ago, South African surgeon Christiaan Barnard successfully performed the first human-to-human heart transplant.

Since then, thousands of lives have been saved by this groundbreaking technology, mostly in developed nations.

Five decades later, nearly 4,000 people have the surgery each year, with an average wait time of about 191 days.