Barnard gets Greek citizenship

GREECE has granted citizenship to Dr Christiaan Barnard, the South African surgeon who performed the world's first human heart transplant.

''Since I took the Hippocratic Oath as a physician in South Africa, I have felt a strong and wonderful feeling of attraction to the country where Hippocrates was born,'' Dr Barnard, 70, wrote in May in a request for citizenship.

Hippocrates, who lived from about 460-370 BC, is recognised as the father of medicine.

The Cabinet granted Dr Barnard's wish in a regular meeting, a government spokesman said.

South Africans can hold dual citizenship.

It was not clear whether Dr Barnard would move to Greece.