The government reintroduced medical examinations of students in schools

The government reintroduced preventive medical examinations of students in schools. According to the Department of Information and Communication of the Secretariat of the Cabinet, the decree, amending paragraph 4 of the Procedure for medical examination of students in secondary schools, was adopted by the Cabinet on January 14. According to the document, mandatory medical preventive examinations of students in secondary schools will be conducted annually by medical staff at secondary schools. According to the Minister of Education, Science, Youth and Sports Dmytro Tabachnik, the idea of medical examinations at schools is supported by parents, particularly more than 84% of them argued in favor of such a decision during the recent "nationwide Internet parent conference." Also, as the government noted, today, unfortunately, some irresponsible parents disregard the child’s health, ignore doctor visits for routine examination of the child or receive formal certificates.Instead, at schools, all children will be covered by medical examination, which would allow to timely detect diseases or predisposition to them and provide appropriate treatment. "We must pay special attention to prevention of diseases, especially children’s, – the Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov said. – Health of the younger generation is an extremely important task. The main emphasis should be on prevention of diseases. And we must approach to this issue not just formally."   The Cabinet also noted that reintroduction of compulsory medical examinations at schools does not preclude examination by family doctors and general practice physicians.