PUBLIC HEALTH
105
There is a School Health Service for all Government schools and such subsidized and private schools as are willing to participate. In return for a charge of $1 per student per month, the medical staff visits schools periodically, and conducts systematic inspections of schoolchildren at specified ages. Those found with any defect are referred to the appro- priate clinic. The Service cooperates with the tuberculosis service in detecting tuberculosis either in schoolchildren or their teachers, and includes provision for dental and ophthalmic treatment. There is considerable demand for the extension of the Service to all schools in the Colony, but without very considerable increases in medical staff, accom- modation and equipment this would not be possible.
Health education, in the form of film shows, filmstrips, flannelcraft, health talks and demonstration classes, is con- ducted at all Health Centres. Pamphlets on infant care have been translated into Chinese, and are distributed on a large scale. Posters of various kinds, dealing with such matters as ante-natal hygiene, diet and general cleanliness, are used in maternity and child health centres. A series of lectures in health education was delivered in English to students at the Northcote Training College, and it is planned to repeat a similar course in Cantonese to the students attending the Grantham Training College for teachers in 1956. Four special schools have cooperated with the World Health Organization team and personnel of the Medical Department in a special health-educational effort seeking to enlist the cooperation of
parents.
There is a Government Ophthalmic Service, based upon two major centres, completely equipped with ophthalmic operating theatres and investigation rooms, from which teams visit regulary ten out-stations at weekly or fortnightly inter- vals. In addition to the Service, there are 14 ophthalmic specialists in private practice, the University employs one part-time ophthalmic specialist for two sessions weekly, and some of the private practitioners give honorary consultant service at the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals. The Service has a central optical workshop, dealing mainly with spectacles prescribed under the School Health Service. The principal ophthalmic diseases presenting at first attendance at govern- ment clinics were acute ophthalmias, cataract, trachoma, syphilis and glaucoma, in that order.