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106
the Health Services must continue to act as a unit, and
anything that leads to disruption of the administrative
units can only result in chaos in improving the health of
the individual.
Fifty-two children attended the special clinics during
1936 and were recorded as suffering from bad malnutrition.
All these cases were dealt with in accordance with
the known circumstances. A selection of these children,
where the home environment fell short of the required
standard, were referred for convalescent home treatment,
camps, etc., and the results were satisfactory, as the
majority showed improvement. The good results are,
however, not always maintained.
Uncleanliness.
Children are periodically inspected in the schools by
the school nurses, and those found to be grossly verminous
are excluded from attendance at school. In the cases of
children discovered with a minor degree of imcleanliness
the parents are warned and instructed on the best methods
to clear verminous conditions.
Where cases fail to respond to warning they are
excluded, and returned to school only after re-examination
shows them to be clean. Cases excluded for periods longer
than 14 days are referred to legal action for non-attendance.
There were two cases in which legal proceedings were
taken in 1936, and the fines inflicted were ten shillings
and five shillings.
During the year 1936 out of 16,194 inspections 363
children were found to be verminous, of whom 169 were
excluded from school for various periods. It is to be noted
that these are not necessarily 169 individual cases, as the
same child might be, and frequently is, excluded at each
inspection.
It seems to me that in these enlightened days the
necessity of re-exclusion of children indicates wilful
neglect, and is a reflection on the moral sense of duty of
these parents. The percentage of verminous children is,
however, a small one, and shows a vast improvement on