KARACHI, Nov 6: Professor Mehmet Haberal, an eminent educationist, renowned surgeon and a scholar from Turkey, was conferred the degree of Doctorate of Science (DSc) Honoris Causa by Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan at a special convocation held at the Governor’s House on Monday.
“It has been a long cherished tradition of the University of Karachi to recognise the noble, literary, academic and meritorious services rendered by men of honour”, the governor said while presiding over the special convocation.
Dr Ibad, who is also the chancellor of all the public sector varsities of the province, pointed out that one of the functions of the varsities was to recognise the services of eminent scholars and researchers and, therefore, the decision of the KU's Syndicate to confer the degree of Science (D.Sc) Honoris Causa on Prof Haberal was commendable.
Dr Ibad said that he was aware of Prof Haberal's contributions in the field of medical research, especially kidney and liver transplantations and treatment of burns patients and social services and award of the DSc degree was a token of appreciation for his contributions.
The governor said that Prof Haberal performed his first kidney transplantation at the age of thirty and it was also heartening to note that the credit for performing world's first combined liver-kidney transplantation from a living related donor also went to Prof Haberal, who performed this operation in 1992.
He observed that Prof Haberal played a pivotal role in formulating a law for the donation of organs. Dr Ibad congratulated Dr Haberal on behalf of the KU and his government for this prestigious award.
Speaking on the occasion, the vice-chancellor of the University of Karachi, Dr Pirzada Qasim, said that the role of varsities was not only to disseminate knowledge but also to encourage the efforts of academicians and researchers.
In his speech, Prof Haberal said that this was a special occasion for him. He said when he realised that Pakistan needed help in burn cases then he decided to do some thing on this side besides transplantations and put the foundation of the society for burns.—APP
