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89
County Borough of East Ham Education Committee.
TO THE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE
EDUCATION COMMITTEE.
Ladies and Gentlemen,—
I have the honour to present my Annual Report upon the
School Medical Service of the County Borough of East Ham for
the year ended 31st December, 1929.
The average school attendance throughout the year approximated
closely to 17,730. The number of routine and special cases
of elementary school children examined totalled 12,870, as compared
with 13,663 in 1928, and a complete medical inspection of all
the scholars in the Secondary Schools has also been carried out.
Considerable progress has been achieved during the year; the
most gratifying and outstanding features in this respect being the
appointment of a second full.time Dental Surgeon, the introduction
of the ionization method of treatment in aural cases, the allocation
of an additional session per week to the treatment of diseases of
the ear, nose and throat, and the adoption of the principle of protective
immunisation against diphtheria.
On the other hand, the question of providing suitable premises
for the conduct of the School Medical Service becomes still more
pressing. Although I have endeavoured, so far as staff and equipment
are concerned, to ensure that no useful means of preventing
the occurrence of disease, ill.health and invalidity has been overlooked,
yet, with the provision of suitable and adequate accommodation
a much wider application of these methods could result.
The wide scope and varied activities of the School Medical
Service demand very careful administration and supervision in
order to ensure the complete success of the Authority's endeavours
to promote the health, hygiene and physical and mental development
of the school children under their care, and one may be
pardoned perhaps for exhibiting a little justifiable pride in reproducing
the following extract from the letter received by the
Authority from the Board of Education in November, 1929 :—