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31
County Borough of East Ham Education Committee.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,—
I beg to submit my Annual Report, as School Medical Officer,
for 1923.
The number of routine and special cases examined of elementary
school children totalled 11,119, as compared with 9,441 in
1922. A complete medical inspection of all the children in the
Secondary School has also been carried out.
I have to report that Dr. F. L. Keith, Assistant School
Medical Officer, left the service on May 4th, 1923. Dr. G. W.
Cheater was appointed as Assistant Medical Officer in June, 1923.
Dr. C. L. Gimblett was appointed as Ophthalmic Surgeon on
19th February, 1923, in place of Dr. H. Thompson who resigned
the appointment in December, 1922.
The past year has witnessed considerable progress in the
Work of the School Medical Service, and the barrier, erected upon
a pseudo-economic foundation, which so seriously hindered the
advancement of preventive measures, is gradually disappearing.
The sympathetic attitude of the Chairman of the Education
Committee towards the proposals put forward from time to time
has greatly assisted in determining the commencement of fresh
activities directed to the improvement in the general health and
physical development of the children in the Elementary and
Secondary Schools.
Further rapid progress is anticipated in the coming year in
view of the fact that the advantages of preventive and early
curative treatment are becoming more generally recognised by
the Education Committee.
The directions in which advance has been made are set forth
in the body of the report (2, 3, 4, 7, 8a, 8c, 8/, 9e, 16,17).