Page 173 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (II)_Neat

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3. MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF SCHOOL — CHILDREN.
It is hoped in the coming year to institute a regular system of medical exami­
nation for all the government schools. Owing to irregular attendances, and lack of
records, these examinations must essentially be of a very elementary nature, but they
afford an useful source of information for statistical purposes, with regard to the
district in which the school is situated, and form the basis of suggestions for
improvement in the health of the children. Children requiring treatment for any
condition, are sent to the nearest government clinic.
A preliminary examinations of the boy’s schools has been carried out and has
provided the following information :—
I
Rafa-a- | Suq-al-
Place Manama Muharraq Hedd Sitra
sharqi , Khamis
i
Number of scholars i
examined • • • t 204 209 | 155 19 47 23
Enlarged spleens
(Malaria) % ... 15.7 5.3 6.1 5.2 63.8 73.9
Evidence of
small-pox.% 21.6 17.2 14.9 10.4 31 .9 i 39.1
Advanced disease i
of the eye % 14.2 3.8 14.2 ; 0 12.8 13.0
I
Carious teeth % ... 14.2 5.3 10.9 10.4 I 25.5 34.8
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4. QUARANTINE SERVICE.
This is under the control of the Q.M.O.
No cases of plague or of cholera have been reported during the year.
5. COMMENTS.
Although it is immediately apparent that there is a great deal of sickness in
Bahrain, the vast majority of it is avoidable, and it is to be hoped that more
measures for the eradication of preventable diseases and for the improvement of
health generally, will eventually be introduced : Slowly, of necessity, because of the
need of understanding and co-operatiou among the people whose main characteristic
is apathy, the expense involved and the magnitude of the change necessitated.
A system of malaria control, as described in the recent report, and of general
vaccination are examples of essential reforms. Adequate sanitation, at present
notable by its absence, is another, but one presenting very many difficulties.
The people themselves are ignorant and generally backward, but in no way is
their simplicity more apparent than in their attitude towards medicine and health
generally. They are commonly insanitary in their persons and habits, and very
apathetic towards illness. More often than not, they present themselves for treatment
in the final stage of disease, when nothing can be of avail, they demand fantastic and
useless remedies, always expect a dramatic ouro and are intolerant of any tedious or