School Health Care

Aims/Goals

The School Health Service aims to ensure optimum health among school children. Scheduled health service starts from pre-school until a student is in Form 5. Provided services include health education, health screening and medical examination, immunisation, treatment and early referral.

Objectives

To maintain optimum health status of school children through scheduled health screenings and medical examinations

To prevent contagious disease through immunisation

To detect any learning problems among school children

To provide health education suitable to their age

Students Eligible for the Service

Parents need to take responsibilities in ensuring their children receive healthcare services offered by Insaf Health Care. To ensure a child is examined and given immunization in school, parents must give written permission according to the followings:

Students of 5 years old

Parents need to sign and authorise their permissions in the Student Health Record Card provided by Insaf Health Care. When students complete their studies, schools need to ensure that Health record Card are returned to parents. The Health status information recorded in the Card.

Students above 5years old

Parents need to:

Fill out health related information on health card & Give consent for the children to undergo medical examination and immunisation.

School Health Team

The School Health Team is responsible for carrying out school health services.

A School Health Team is led by a Medical Officer and assisted by Nurses, Nursing Assistant and a Driver.

School Health Service Packages

Standard 1 Students

The service package for Standard 1 students includes:

Health education 

Anthropometric examination

Visual screening

Physical examination

Vaccination (out of EPI schedule)

Treatment for minor diseases

Referral to specialists 

Standard 3 Students         

Year 3 students identified by their teachers as having learning problems will be referred to physicians/medical officers for verification of their learning disability status.

To expedite examination process of these students, parents/guardians should submit the following documents when attending appointments at health clinics:

Referral letter from school to undergo examination

To help the Physicians and Medical Officers make a diagnosis, parents or guardians should provide them with current health information of their children. Some tests will be performed on the students before diagnosis is made.

Parents will be informed of their children’s learning disability status at the end of the consultation sessions. Medical Officers will fill out the examination results to be re-submitted to schools.

Confirmation card will be given to parents/guardians of students who have been confirmed as having learning disabilities. It is a responsibility of parents/guardians to register the student for further treatment.

The students will be referred to a specialist for further examination.

Standard 6 Students         

The service package for Year 6 students includes:

Health education 

Anthropometric examination

Visual screening

Physical examination

Scoliosis screening

Treatment for minor diseases

Referral to specialists 

Form 1 Female Students              

Female Form 1 students will receive two injections of HPV (human papilloma virus) immunisation. The HPV immunisation is given to prevent cervical cancer caused by HPV type 16 and HPV type 18 infections.

The first injection is given at the beginning of the year while the second injection is given 6 months after the first injection date. Each student receiving the injections will be given a HPV immunisation card. This card must be kept for future reference purposes.

Form 3 Students                

The service package for Form 3 students includes:

Health education 

Anthropometric examination

Colour blindness screening (students having colour blindness will need career counselling)

Scoliosis screening

Physical examination

Additional immunisation dose to prevent tetanus

Treatment for minor diseases

Referral to specialists 

Form 4 Students                

Thalassaemia screening is offered to Form 4 students whose parents have signed the consent form.

What is the purpose of Thalassaemia screening?

Thalassemia is an inherited genetic disease that is passed from parent to child. A Thalassemia patient will need blood transfusions and drug treatment for the rest of their life. 

Thalassemia carriers receive Thalassemia genes from one of their parents and do not display any signs of Thalassemia illness. However, a marriage of two Thalassemia carriers will result in Thalassemia patient children. Thus it is important for a Form 4 student to verify their Thalassaemia status before choosing their life partner. 

How is Thalassaemia screening conducted?

The followings explain Thalassaemia screening procedure in schools:

School Health Team will conduct briefings on Thalassemia to Form 4 students. After each briefing, students whose parents do not consent for Thalassemia screening will be released back to their classes.

Students will be called according to name list. Nurses will check name and NRIC to ensure sample blood bottles are labelled with correct identities.

2.5ml blood (1/2 teaspoon) will be withdrawn for screening purposes.

Blood samples will be sent to laboratory.

Screening results will be given to students.

Students with anaemia (deficiency of red cells in the blood, students confirmed as Thalassemia carriers or patients, and students who need further tests will be given appointments with Medical Officers.

During appointments, students and parents will be given counselling on their status. If the students have any sibling more than 16 years old, they will be offered to undergo similar Thalassemia screening.

Thalassaemia screening card

All Form 4 students who go through Thalassaemia screening will receive a Thalassaemia screening card. This card contains information on their Thalassaemia status and must be kept for reference purposes.

Make sure you ask on Thalassaemia status of your future life partner and review their Thalassaemia screening card. This will help to prevent the birth of children with Thalassaemia disease.