after undergoing a seven-hour heart transplant.

The 45-year-old chief of the National Alcohol and Drug Agency received a heart from a West Virginia donor on Saturday.

His assistant Mrs. Althea Overbey last night said Mr. Ming was still unconscious in Pittsburgh Presbyterian University Hospital's intensive care unit. But she said doctors and his family were pleased because the heart found was "the exact size''.

"They were on the look out for a large heart,'' Mrs. Overbey said.

Mr. Ming, who was last night listed in critical condition, had been on a heart donor's list for weeks.

Just last week he had an electronic device implanted to take over the pumping of his weak heart.

The operation was an interim measure until a suitable heart could be found.

Days after that operation Mr. Ming was sitting up and talking with his family who have been at his side since he was admitted to the hospital.

Mrs. Overbey said he was even "tapping his fingers to gospel music''.

While the much-needed heart transplant has been completed, Mr. Ming's family will now have to face staggering hospital costs.

In preparation for this the Cal Ming Fund-Raising Committee has been set up to help ease the family's expenses.

The committee recently staged a telethon which pulled in $62,957 in pledges -- well over the $50,000 target.

And $470 was raised through donations collected at the eighth annual Secondary School Quiz held last month.

Last night Mrs. Overbey could not give an exact figure on how much has been raised to date. But she said it is believed to be more than $30,000.

An exact figure was expected later this week, she added.

Meanwhile fund-raising accounts for Mr. Ming remain open at the Bank of Bermuda and the Bank of N.T. Butterfield.