MEDICAL INSPECTION.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 168, 3 July 1911, Page 7

MEDICAL INSPECTION.

EDUCATION BOARD'S VIEWS

ADVANTAGES TO BE GAINED. [per press association.] Christchurch. July 2. In the course of an interview Mr. C. H. Opie. Chairman of the North Canterbury Education Board, commented on the scheme for the medical inspection of school children proposed at the Health Conference by the Inspector-General of Hospitals. Mr. Opie said that the North Canterbury Education Board had been asking for some time for medica? inspection in the schools, and had been getting rather impatient that nothing in that direction had been done. Up to the present time medical inspection had appeared to be a very expensive matter. but that difficulty would be met if Dr. Valintine's scheme were carried out by the hospital boards paying one-half of the sum required (£13,500) and the Government the other half in the way of a subsidy. The experiment had been tried at the Gloucester street school two years previously, but it had been found that so much time was taken up in examining the children that it had given rather a set-back to the proposition. He was sure that the present scheme could be carried out at a small cost, and one of the factors that would tend to lower the cost would be that the teachers would be required to do a certain amount of the medical examining. Germany had taken the lead in the matter of the medical examination of schools. There a doctor attached to the school staff examined'all new entrants as soon as possible after their entrance, and examined them from time to lime. He paid special attention to those pupils who required medical treatment, and the teachers then notified the parents of the children's ailment. , One of the features of the German system was that the parent could be present- at the examination if they wished, ami that the inspector eoulil exempt a child from work if there were any signs of over-pres-sure of work. From an examination an .inspector could often recommend the most fitting occupation for a child in after life, and that was generally done. He was phased to see that Dr. Valintine’s scheme included the special training of teachers. That had already been provided for in the regulations issued last year for the training colleges iu which it was required that students at a training college should take lessons in

school and personal hygiene. He considered that under the suggested scheme school teachers would have to pass a qualifying examination in hygiene. Excellent work had already been done at some of the high schools in connection with anthropometry. With reference to the suggested appointment of school nurses, he di<l not think that much could he done in that direction for some time, but it would doubtless lie the outcome of the scheme later on. The fact that the cost was so small in proportion to the advantages to be gained should make those who had opposed the proposal in the past now give way. The proposal to charge a fee for each child examined was not unreasonable, and he had no doubt that a reasonable fee would be fixed. In answer to a question from the reporter as to the extra clerical work placed on the teachers, Mr. Opie said that there was no doubt whatever that teachers were re-

: quired to keep too many records !at present. A lot of the recordis i now kept could be done away wu’i, ; arid the medical records taken in ! their place. He had recently •- o’n ' instrumental in getting a lot of the i clerical work of the teachers lesi seneil. The teachers had. been very treated by the Govern- > ment. in recent years. Air. Opie I said he had no doubt that they ; would be only too pleased to assist ;in any work which was for the i good of the children.