Joseph E Debono

Professor Joseph E. Debono, a consultant physician, was appointed Demonstrator of Medicine in 1928, Professor of Materia Medica and Pharmacology in 1963 and Professor of Medicine in 1964. He taught medical undergraduates at the Royal University of Malta up to 1963.

Professor Debono carried out original work on vaccination of goats, together with Sir Temistocles (Temi) Zammit, wrote many papers on Undulant Fever (also known as the Malta Fever) and introduced Aureomycin, which was followed by other antibiotics, in 1949. He was the first to popularize the concept of dehydration in Infantile Diarrhorea and introduced the simple but efficient treatment which greatly reduced mortality.

Professor Debono was appointed consultant physician to the Lazaretto Isolation Hospital in 1942 (during the worst part of the Second World War), and was in charge of the polio patients until the post war epidemic was over. He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 1956. In 1963 he started an independent diabetic clinic and had continued for many years to serve as its director.

In 1968 Professor Debono was chosen by the Confederation of Civic Councils (Malta) and awarded the first Gold Medal of Merit on behalf of the Maltese Nation. The Medal of Merit was awarded to those who had shown special merit or had given exception service to Malta.