An Egyptian researcher at the Faculty of Commerce, Al-Azhar University, obtained a doctorate degree in the intensive care room of an Egyptian hospital, in a unique incident in the academic and scientific community.
Researcher Mahmoud Wahba, assistant lecturer of statistics at the Faculty of Commerce for Boys at Al-Azhar University, was transferred to the Arab Contractors Hospital, east of Cairo, after suffering from a rare disease last January, and the faculty and university councils agreed to hold a discussion committee inside the hospital where the researcher is undergoing treatment.
According to the local newspaper Sada al-Balad, the discussion of the researcher's thesis was held on Wednesday afternoon in the presence of specialized doctors to follow up on Wahba's condition during the discussion due to the seriousness of his disease, and lasted for two hours, and the committee recommended granting him a global degree (PhD in Philosophy) in statistics.
According to his brother Mohammed, the researcher "has been suffering from bone cancer for two years and is currently confined to bed in a hospital, undergoing chemotherapy and radiation."
Mohammed said his brother had not previously suffered from any other diseases before he developed bone cancer.
Dr. Wahba, the father of a 9-year-old girl, appeared on the hospital's sickbed wearing the uniform for master's and doctoral thesis discussions.
Several of the researcher's colleagues shared photos from the discussion session and the moments of awarding the degree, where he appeared dressed in the usual uniform of master's and doctoral students.
One of Wahba's students wrote a post, saying, "Dr. Mahmoud Wahba is one of the best teaching assistants who taught us, he was working to summarize the lectures at the end of the semester because he took into account that a number of students do not give statistics much attention during the study period, so he was keen to (double) their information."