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95
Medical Inspection.
The usual routine has been maintained; children
under the routine age groups of entrants, intermediates
(Second age group) and leavers (Third age group), have
been examined at school, while children not necessarily
coming under these groups but requiring examination at
the clinics, or at request of the parents, head teachers and
school attendance officers, have been recorded under
" specials."
There are other medical examinations made, such as,
employed children, children referred for convalescent
home treatment, children examined after infectious
disease or contacts to infectious disease, who require fit
certificates to return to school, and special cases referred
for mental defect or for abnormal behaviour, and the
special cases referred from the Juvenile Court. The field
is a wide and interesting one, but time is all too short to
cover the whole field of work to one's entire satisfaction.
Table I. in the appendix gives the number of children
examined as routine (1,770) and as specials (5,086).
Table II. gives further details of these inspections,
describing in particular the defects discovered at the
various medical examinations. It will be noted that the
chief defects are of the throat and nose. Of children
examined at routine inspections 140 (9 per cent.) were
noted to have defective vision not previously discovered.
By further reference to Table II. it will be noted that the
1,770 children coming under routine examination at school
suffered from 546 defects requiring treatment. Table IIb.
shows that the younger age group are mostly affected
whilst the leaver group is comparatively free. This is the
statistical proof that the School Medical Service is making
for fitness before the age of leaving school.
Treatment.
It is to be noted that any child discovered with defect
is referred for treatment and followed-up until such
treatment is obtained either through the School Clinic,
private practitioners or hospitals. Appendix Table IV.
shows the number of cases treated through the various