Professor Peter Paul Debono : The man and his times

Abstract

This is a lecture delivered to the Association of Surgeons & Physicians of Malta on the 8th November 1973 at the Malta Medical School. As a student Peter Paul Debono witnessed a great impetus in many medical areas of enquiry which resulted in vigorous advances in the diagnostic and therapeutic fields. In the First World War he worked as anesthetist at the Royal Naval Hospital at Bighi. When the Maltese Islands became involved in World War II, Professor P.P. Debono was faced with a formidable task as the Chief Surgeon in the Emergency Medical Service (1941-43) set-up to deal with civilian casualties from air bombardment. The University was another of his life-long interests. As Professor of Surgery, he was a member of the Special Council of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery. On the restoration of self-government in 1947, he joined the Labour Party. He belonged to a generation of surgeons who were expected to tackle any surgical condition that came their way. Peter Paul Debono took everything in his stride without hesitation although in later years he came to realise that specialization within the surgical field had become necessary and unavoidable.