Longest-surviving heart transplant patient to celebrate 20 years since surgery

The longest-surviving Czech with a heart transplant is going to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of his successful surgery this Saturday. Sixty-eight-year old language teacher Rudolf Sekava from the eastern town of Jihlava is in good health. He still teaches at a local high school although long past retirement age. Mr Sekava had been diagnosed with a fatal heart condition and operated on in 1984 at the Prague Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine. The institute has so far carried out over 500 heart transplants out of the Czech Republic's total of 740. There are currently 400 Czechs living with a heart transplant.