Thursday, May 24, 2007

Many thanks to Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan


This is a Memorable Day for our Optometry Profession.

The Optometrists and Opticians Bill was introduced in Parliament, after advocating it for more than 30 years.

Many thanks to Minister of Health, Mr Khaw Boon Wan, who agreed to consider the introduction of the Bill, after a few of us, representing the profession, met him two years ago.
Many of our population are still confused with the difference of the role between the optometrist and optician.

Optometrist, sometime also known as ophthalmic optician, is trained to assess and correct visual defect with optical or visual aids, and also to screen and diagnose any anomalies of the eyes, and to refer the patient to ophthalmologist for management and treatment when necessary.

Optician, sometimes also known as dispensing optician, is trained to fill and dispensed the necessary optical or visual aids as prescribed by the optometrist.

As the present pool of optometrists may be insufficient to take care of our present population, we agreed to allow those registered optician, who are untrained in optometry to continue checking the eyes of anyone above the age of 7 years old. The polytechnic will provide them with the training of eyes refraction.

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