POSITION IN OTAGO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26636, 5 December 1947, Page 4

POSITION IN OTAGO

CHILDREN SHOULD NOT CONGREGATE VIEW OF MEDICAL MEN Four questions arising from the infantile paralysis epidemic, in consequence of which schools in the North Island have been closed and other precautionary measures taken in the north, were yesterday submitted to three Dunedin medical men—Dr G. O. L. Dempster, district medical officer of health; Dr A. S. Moody, chairman of the Otago Hospital Board, and another doctor with a large practice among children. The questions, together with the answers received, are given below. Question: Is it within your knowledge that school children and preschool children from the North Island have arrived in Dunedin and other parts of the South Island from the areas of infection in the North Island since the epidemic was reported? Dr Moody: Children from the North Island are expected to arrive in the South Island this although not necessarily from infected areas. A medical practitioner: I do not know of any castes where this has occurred.

Question: Do you consider it desirable that the congregating of children in the Otago health district, particularly Dunedin, and in the smaller centres of population, should be permitted? Dr Moody: No it is? not desirable that children should be permitted to congregate. A medical practitioner: The practice should be actively discouraged.

Question: Is it in the interests of the children of Otago that they should not only be permitted, but encouraged (by radio advertising and other methods) to congregate in confined spaces, e.g., at cinemas, in the special Christmas sections at stores selling toys, etc.? Dr Moody: They should not be allowed to congregate in theatres, stores, or elsewhere. They should be encouraged to be in the open air and to avoid undue fatigue. A medical practitioner: Children should be discouraged from congregating in confined spaces-.

Question: Do you approve of children, especially young children, being kept at school until the end of the school year, especially where school examinations are complete, and taking part in end-of-year prize-givings and entertainments?

Dr Moody: As regards the closing of schools, this is a matter for the Health Department. The medical practitioner did not agree with children being kept at school until the end of the school year. He suggested that the schools should be closed no\y, as there was no particular reason' why the children should remain at school at this time of the year, and by doing so they were creating a likely means of spreading the infection. He added that the congregating of children in schools, cinemas, and shops was an important factor in spreading the disease. When the questions were referred to Dr Dempster, he said there was no comment to be made from the Health. Department.