Honorary doctorate for environmental health expert
CPUT awards honorary doctorate for environmental health expert Dr Selvanathan Mudaly (middle)
Friday, 16 September 2016
CPUT made history today when it awarded its first honorary doctorate in the field of Environmental Health.
This honour was bestowed on Dr Selvanathan Mudaly, a trailblazer in the field of Environmental Health in South Africa.
Mudaly is the third recipient of an honorary doctorate from CPUT. Earlier this year, the university awarded honorary doctorates to Dr Brigalia Bam and Dr Christo Wiese, for their contributions to education and business respectively.
On acceptance of his honorary doctorate at the university’s Spring Graduation, Mudaly encouraged the graduating class to serve South Africa and to each play a role in developing the country.
He also urged the audience not to forget the communities they came from and to plough back.
“It is left to us to make a difference in South Africa,” he says.
An expert in Environmental Health, Mudaly made history in 1972 when he became the first black individual in South Africa to obtain the National Higher Diploma in Public Health from the then Natal Technikon.
Mudaly also carried out the first Municipal Health Services survey in South Africa and drafted a set of MHS by-laws. However, Mudaly’s greatest contribution to the field of environmental health is his development of the ‘Scope of Practice’ for the profession of environmental health, which was approved by the Health Professions Council of South Africa and gazetted by the National Minister of Health in June 2009.
He was also recently elected as the President of the International Federation for Environmental Health.
Written by Candes Keating
Email: keatingc@cput.ac.za
Provides coverage for the Engineering and Applied Sciences Faculties; the Bellville and Wellington Campuses, and research and innovation news
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