A recent splendid exhibition of paintings by Edward Caruana Dingli has inspired a call for a tribute to the memory of the late Professor of Surgery Peter Paul Debono, from members of his family and by myself, his grateful pupil and assistant.

This commemoration should be held this month, because December 9 is the date that appears on his diploma of Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FRCS).

This date also marks him as the first Maltese doctor to achieve this title. Prof. Debono has also been dubbed ‘Father of Modern Surgery in Malta’.

Prof. Debono, who is still fondly referred to as ‘Pietru Pawl’, was born in 1890 and died in 1958. He had qualified as MD (Malta) in 1910 and succeeded to the professorship in 1926, retiring in 1951, to be succeeded by the late Prof. Alfred John Craig.

His brilliant career as senior surgeon naturally reached its peak when coping with treatment for the thousands of war victims during the period 1940 to 1943.

His students judged his teaching as superb, while his juniors, assistants and successors attributed to him all the best qualities of a master surgeon. He radiated charisma, influence and inspiration.