By Ijendu Iheaka
The Nigerian Optometric Association (NOA), Abia Chapter has called on government to employ more Optometrists in its hospitals to ensure Nigerians received adequate eye care.
Dr Onyedikachi Ogbonna, the newly elected Chairman of Abia Chapter made the call in an interview with newsmen in Aba on Monday.
She said that the low number of optometrists working in the state and across the country was affecting the full discharge of their duties to Nigerians.
Ogbonna, however, urged government to give optometrists a different department not headed by an opthalmologist to ensure they functioned for the optimal benefit of patients.
She frowned at government owned hospitals’ restriction of optometry practice to just “Refraction” operations, which is just one out of over 12 career areas which she said was a big anomaly.
Ogbonna said optometrists were not “Refractionists” but are eye doctors and should be treated as such by giving them free hand to function optimally.
She, therefore, called for the creation of optometric departments in General Hospitals to ensure Nigerians enjoyed full scale eye care.
Ogbonna said that the practitioners have an array of practice areas that would benefit patients the more if allowed to function under an Optometric department.
“There are many things that eye patients are deprived of because Optometrists function in Nigerian hospitals under Ophthalmologists.
“In this era we should not have people with this deviated eyes, their eyes can be trained to give them a normal symmetric eyes.
“You still see people with “the 4 : 30 eye” in this era when things can be made better so there are plenty things that are not right.
“It is not only the professionals in Optometry that are on the losing end but also the patients because practice is hindered in some areas patients should benefit”, she said.
Ogbonna said that Optometric services are so important that if fully developed would handsomely improve any government’s Internally Generated Revenue.
She said that private practice of Optometry in Abia is flourishing but also needs to be standardized to improve quality eye care delivery in private eye clinics
