asked the Minister for Health if he is aware of the number of poor children of between 12 and 15 years in city post-primary schools whose education is marred by their parents' inability to purchase medical appliances such as hearing aids and spectacles; and if he will arrange for such children to be made eligible for benefit under the school medical scheme.

I am not aware that there is any such problem. Medical appliances are provided for children who are found, at national school health examinations, to require them. Should the need for appliances first become apparent at post-primary level, they would be provided free of charge to children who have full eligibility for health services and may be provided free of charge to other children whose parents cannot provide the appliances without undue hardship. It is not proposed to extend the school medical service at this stage to post-primary school children.