Health experts warn against school medical examinations

Health workers have joined the back-to-school cash bonanza that only scholastic material suppliers have so far enjoyed. Now parents flock to clinics with medical forms from school to get stamps.

This has created a niche within the health sector of back-to-school packages with curated services catering to these forms.

The tendency of schools to require filled medical forms has up until recently been reserved for girls in secondary schools to do pregnancy tests. However, many schools at all levels have adopted this practice for school-goers of any level.

In one case spotted by URN, a lab at a prominent hospital in Kampala is charging forty-five thousand shillings for their School Pre-Medical which entails a physical examination, Full Blood Count (FBC), malaria, a urinalysis, and typhoid screening.

Pediatricians, however, are concerned over these tests that schools require as part of wellness programs.

Richard Idro, a senior pediatrician at Mulago National Referral Hospital told URN that schools are reaching beyond their authority by issuing uninformed and unrealistic health checks.

Idro, who is also a professor of Pediatrics at Makerere University, said some of the tests are useless and dangerous because they might mislead people to start unnecessary treatments.

He stated that some tests should be advised by qualified health workers, not school administration. As a solution, pediatricians under the umbrella Uganda Pediatrics Association have commenced a review process to come up with a school health card with standard tests for school-going children.

After consensus building with concerned ministries, the document will be made available.

According to Charles Olaro, the Director of Clinical Services in the Ministry of Health, as much as this is a health issue it is the responsibility of the education ministry to come such guidelines.

Although it is unclear whether such guidelines exist in the ministry. Experts on the matter say that the Uganda School Health Policy which was first drafted in 2008 by the education ministry, should be able to offer guidance. However, the policy has never been passed.

Idro said parents and schools should only be concerned with good nutrition, the transmission of infections, physical activity, adequate rest, and sleep. That there's a growing problem of obesity and mental strain from sugar-packed snacks and high-performance expectations, respectively.

He also urges parents to give nursery school children a dose of vitamin A once every six months.