Doctor calls for better health steps in schools

Dubai: Chronically ill school-going children should have wrist tags to identify their symptoms so that teachers can act swiftly if the child falls ill in class, a paediatric specialist said.

"A teacher should know how to deal with a diabetic child who becomes hypoglycaemic [blood sugar levels falling drastically] or an epileptic," said Dr Sami George, a children's doctor at the Canadian Specialist Hospital.

He said teachers should be trained to spot health problems in children.

"Why is a child not doing well in school or why is she always sleepy in class?" he said and added children's studies often suffer because of vision or hearing problems.

He added: "The most important thing you can teach your child is to wash their hands before eating."

The specialist said a child's health begins at home. "I know children who are up until 2am and then go to school," he said, adding: "Mothers should give their children nutritious food which is good for the body and brain, not junk food."

Immediate treatment

All schools should have a full-time doctor who can treat a sick child immediately. "It is required by law that the doctor should be on the premises, not visiting for a couple of hours every day. It is unacceptable that the school clinic should be run by a nurse," he said.

The specialist urged parents to give their children flu shots, especially kids up to five years old.

"It is cheap [about Dh30] and it protects your child," he said. "Every year there is a new flu drug" to deal with the constant mutation of the flu virus.