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the district and those who are discharged as satisfactory by us, this ideal
half-yearly attendance is almost achieved.
Of the 435 children seen during I960:—
17 left school now.
4 transferred to other areas.
34 were discharged satisfactory.
This leaves 380 children still under our care plus 21 new cases awaiting
treatment, a total, so far of 401 children.
Our patients are referred to us mainly by the School Medical
Officer or the School Nurse, some from the Infant Welfare Clinics, a
few are sent by their family doctor, and in some instances parents
approach the clinic on their own initiative or prompted by the school
teacher who observed some abnormal behaviour in the child suggestive
of eye trouble.
During the year, we meet every type of pathological eye condition,
but the main work is refraction work and the treatment of squints.
Thus, 274 pairs of glasses were prescribed, i.e. 252 for school children
and 22 for children of pre-school age.
The incidence of squint is a fairly high one. Fortunately these
children come usually already in the early stages of this abnormality
and are thus much better amenable to treatment. I cannot but praise
the very good co-operation we get from the hospitals and the orthoptic
departments. Their reports come speedily and the waiting period for
appointments is very short now, and also the waiting period for
operations.
Unfortunately, at each weekly session we get some absentees.
Discounting the instances of sickness, there are always some parents
who fail to attend without any special reason and without any notification,
thus taking up time from which another patient could have
benefited. It is through this laxity that we are never able to reduce our
waiting list to nil and that at the end of the year there were still 21 new
cases awaiting their first appointment. In this respect, I should like
to express my special gratitude to the Health Visitors trying to find
time to visit these parents in their homes and finding out the reasons
for the non-attendance. I should also like to thank the clerocal staff
for sending out reminders and keeping check of these cases.
Orthopaedic Clinics
Number of children receiving treatment 614
Total attendances at Specialists' clinic 280
Total attendances at Physiotherapy sessions 3,572
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