Chirurgus Africanus In Circo Maximo

If Romans were still building those triumphal arches, the Forum would have a new one by now. Scipio Africanus would have felt right at home with the welcome given last week to a man who, until two months ago, was virtually unknown outside Cape Town's Groote Schuur Hospital. On his arch, the Romans probably would have carved Chirurgus Africanus, and perhaps added Maximus. He was greeted by Pope and President, tailor and teenager, the high priests of medicine and surgery, the promoters of movies, the doyens of fashion, and by a glittering assortment of the beautiful people.

Chirurgeon Christiaan Neethling Barnard was traveling with his cousin, Dr. Martinus C. Botha, and Dr. Siebert Bosman, another member of his surgical team. Also along was a Cape Town fashion photographer, Don Mackenzie, taking pictures that may be useful in Barnard's forthcoming autobiography. Travel expenses for the party were underwritten by the medical groups and TV producers who had invited Barnard to Europe. In Baden-Baden, for a West German audience, Barnard discussed the moral aspects of heart transplants on TV, and then relaxed, dancing with Actress Uta Levka, who wears fewer clothes in Carmen, Baby than she would on the operating table.

Pope's Blessing. Then on to Rome, and a sort of Circus Maximus that swirled in and out of Barnard's suite at the Hotel Flora on the Via Veneto. There Barnard had a session with photographers for Epoca magazine, whose publisher, Arnoldo Mondadori, has contracted to pay well into six figures for world publishing rights to the heart surgeon's autobiography.

Barnard had arrived without a dark suit, had nothing to wear to the audience with the Pope that he had requested. His dilemma was resolved by Angelo Litrico, who has made suits for John F. Kennedy, Khrushchev and King Hussein. Litrico dashed to the Flora, took measurements, kept his workers up all night. By 9:30 a.m., Barnard had a made-to-measure dark blue suit with a hairline stripe and a dark grey topcoat with velvet collar. Later he picked up four pairs of shoes, four shirts, twelve ties, two more overcoats and two suits.

Before visiting the Vatican, Barnard paid a courtesy call on President Giuseppe Saragat at the Quirinal Palace. During his visit with the Pope, Barnard said that he had been pondering the moral aspects of heart transplantation. Replied Pope Paul VI: "I bless your achievement, and I invite you to proceed along the same road, doing good, as you have up to now."

Movies, Books, Records. Then the dolce vita. Spaghetti and wine with Rosanna Schiaffino, Gina Lollobrigida, Michelangelo Antonioni, Roberto Rossellini--and a producer named Alfredo Bini, who wants to make a movie of Barnard's work and entice him into playing the final, climactic scene himself. ("We'll see," said Barnard.) Lunch with Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti. More TV appearances. A reception at the South African embassy. On to London and Paris.

When he returns to Cape Town, Barnard will get back to work on his autobiography. Already on sale are The Transplanted Heart, a quick-off-the-mark newsbook by Johannesburg Reporter Peter Hawthorne, and Human Heart Transplantation, a four-sided LP narrated largely by Barnard.

At Groote Schuur, Philip Blaiberg, the only living transplant patient, remained in sterile isolation. His wife was still kept on the far side of a glass screen, to guard him against infection. But Blaiberg was eating like a horse and demanding something stronger to drink than his shandy of beer and lemonade--he wanted the beer straight. Even so, his recovery was proving a lengthy process and each day Christiaan Barnard telephoned Cape Town to ask about his patient.

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