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(8) Medical Treatment.
(a) MINOR AILMENTS.
There are a good many minor ailments among school children
for which the poor parents in this Borough will not seek medical
aid from a private Doctor or Hospital. For such, the Clinics
are provided and Head Teachers are empowered to send all such
children who fall into this category to the School Clinics by means
of the Clinic attendance cards which are provided for the purpose.
These minor ailments include such conditions as sores, slight
skin affections, impetigo, eczema, scabies, sore eyes and minor
cuts and bruises, also slight ear trouble and ringworm.
Table IV., group 1, gives the amount of treatment undertaken
at the School Clinics, as compared with that undertaken
privately.
(b) TONSILS AND ADENOIDS.
Arrangements have been made for the operative treatment of
these conditions with the following Institutions:—
(1) Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford.
(2) St. Mary's Hospital, Plaistow.
(3) The Children's Hospital, Balaam Street, Plaistow.
All cases are previously examined and recommended by one
of the Assistant School Medical Officers, and a voucher is given
on the appropriate Hospital. The child is also re-inspected after
operation.
During the year 1,243 operations were performed under the
Authority's scheme and 58 by private practitioner or otherwise.
One hundred and twenty-two cases received non-operative treatment,
making a total of 1,423.
The parent's consent is always obtained before an operation
is undertaken.
(c) TUBERCULOSIS.
Treatment of this condition is not undertaken by the Education
Committee, but cases are notified, on discovery, to the
Medical Officer of Health, and then dealt with under the Council's
scheme for the treatment of Tuberculosis. The School Doctors
refer suspicious cases to the Tuberculosis Officer by a special card,
for examination and report. By this means pre-tuberculous cases
are kept under observation, and can receive any requisite preventative
treatment.
The number of cases so referred to the Tuberculosis Officer
(luring the year was 47.
Provision is made for Institutional treatment of tuberculous
children unfit for school life under the above-mentioned scheme of
the Council.
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