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32
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, 1942.
To the Chairman and Members of the
Enfield Education Committee.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to submit my Annual Report on the work of the School
Medical Department for the year ending 31st December, 1942.
I am happy to inform the Committee that throughout the year
the care of the children attending the elementary and secondary
schools i"n Enfield continued on a sure and steady basis. It was
interrupted by changes in staff due to retirement of assistant school
medical officers. Such changes are unfortunate for they prevent
that continuity in the care of the children, that gaining of experience
both of the service generally, and of the children individually which
is so valuable. In the hope that 1943 may be more fortunate in
this respect, the Council and Education Committee have appointed
three female assistant medical officers, two of whom are married.
Exemption from military service has been obtained for the third
for a period of one year.
It will be noted that the school population has increased by
over 1,000, and this fact and war time conditions have increased
both our work and its responsibilities.
I know that there is one matter on which the Committee will
want my immediate assurance, i.e. as to whether this third year of
war has passed without serious detriment to the health of the
children for whom the Education Committee is responsible. I feel
that I can answer this question in the affirmative with every confidence.
There is no increase of material importance in the number
of children suffering from malnutrition, and, in so far as secondary