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94
Annual Report of the School
Medical Officer
DENNIS H. GEFFEN,
M.D., B.S., D.P.H., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P.
For the year ending 31st December, 1939.
To the Chairman and Members of the
Enfield Education Committee.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen,
I beg to submit my Annual Report on the school children of
Enfield for the year ending 31st December, 1938.
The work of the department has been carried on steadily
throughout the year, and I am satisfied that the health of the
children has been well maintained.
Figures as to the state of nutrition of children in Enfield must
be read with caution. Your medical officers take a very high standard
as to the state of nutrition that should be expected in a district
such as Enfield, and comparisons with other districts cannot, therefore,
rightly be made.
There has been some comment as to the number of children
who are operated upon for the removal of tonsils and adenoids
through the aegis of the School Medical Department. It is a fact
that the number dealt with by the Enfield Education Committee is
considerably higher than the numbers dealt with by the Education
Committees of some of the neighbouring, or other districts in the
country. This does not mean that the number of children in Enfield
who have their tonsils and adenoids removed is higher than in those
areas with which the comparison has been made. It merely shows
that in Enfield the public turn to the Education Committee in
greater proportion, to arrange the operation. The operations
performed under the aegis of your Committee are only performed
after a child has been examined, kept under observation, possibly
after consultation with your Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist, and
as often as not at the request and on the advice, or with the
co-operation, of the family practitioner. It must be remembered