A lifetime on, the doctor finally gets his degree

HE served in the army, built a private hospital from scratch and wrote a book about his life working in medicine, but one thing Dr Harry Segal never achieved was a medical degree.

That was corrected last Friday when Dr Segal, now 89, finally received a proper qualification from university chancellor and NSW Governor Marie Bashir at a ceremony at the University of Sydney.

Segal began studying medicine at age 15 and completed his studies in 1942 at the age of 20. At the time the university sent him a letter to state he could not graduate with his class because he was not 21 years of age.

“The war was on and they shortened the course by six months,” Segal told to The AJN. “When the graduation came up I was still not yet 21. And they [the government] wouldn’t register me either.

“But I was still able to work at Sydney Hospital without being graduated and without being registered. They needed doctors then, that was 1942 and things weren’t looking too good.”

Being caught up with life, Dr Segal didn’t pursue a proper graduation.

“When the next time came around, that was few months later I was working so hard at Sydney Hospital I couldn’t get off,” he said. “And the next year I was in the army and I forgot all about it.”

During a lengthy medical career, Dr Segal was an honorary captain in the Army Reserve, spent years as a general surgeon and established the Kareena Private Hospital in Caringbah.

His book, An Interesting Life, chronicles his experiences, as well as looking at the development of the field of medicine itself.

Recently, Dr Segal’s daughter and son-in-law Marilyn and Stephen Cordell wrote to the university to suggest the idea of a belated graduation.

Dr Segal said he felt gratified rather than emotional to finally receive his degree.

“I’ve had a pretty long career and I’ve achieved much more than just that,” he said.

But he said it was “very lovely” to have his family present at the ceremony.

“They’re mostly graduates from Sydney University and it was very nice. I think they enjoyed it, I enjoyed it too,” he said.

GARETH NARUNSKY

Harry Segal receives his degree from NSW Governor Marie Bashir (left) as daughter Marilyn Cordell looks on.