`Jaago'...!

Government of India had started the Diploma in Optometry by way of a 2-year course in the year 1958. 

For over six decades, optometric leaders have been demanding the formation of Optometric Council of India to register primary eye care professionals having undergone a course of minimum two years' duration at an accredited teaching institutrion.

Government of India (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) enacted the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP) Act 2021.

But, surprisingly, it prohibits Diploma-holders' registration as Optometrists.

True, the Country needs a uniform 4-year Degree qualification.

But

(i) Diploma-holders (as on the date of the Act) need to be included,

(ii) Diploma course needs to be up-graded to Degree level, and, if not

(iii) Diploma course should be banned, so that those undergoing this course do not face the unpleasant music.

Dr. Narendra Kumar, Editor, Optometry Today, OptometryToday@gmail.com

Say `no’ to non-professional advice on eye-care

You must ignore people who say wonderful things about `easy' eye-care...by-passing the yearly professional eye examination, as a disease like glaucoma (the sneak thief of vision) can sometimes rob a person of precious vision if not treated in time.

Dr. Narendra Kumar
Editor, Optometry Today
OptometryToday@gmail.com 

A GP lens on top of a soft contact lens

Contact lenses are an excellent invisible aid to vision. Eye care practitioners usually fit either a soft or a

gas-permeable (GP) contact lens for the management of an error of refraction (myopia, hypermetropia, astigmatism, or presbyopia). But, in some ocular conditions like keratoconus (conical cornea), wherein spectacles and routine contact lenses do not provide the needed help in improving vision, eye doctors may, sometimes, resort to the fitting of a piggy-back system, whereby a GP lens rests on top of a soft contact lens, resulting in comfortable improvement in vision. (The picture from Times of India dated July 23, 2014 shows a koala cub riding on its mother’s back at a zoo in France).

Dr. Narendra Kumar

Respite from non-regulated practice of optometry

Heatwave grips Delhi; the thirsty bird looks for water as respite…Optometry comes to the country way back in 1958; still looking towards Government for respite, from non-regulated practice, in the form of Optometric Council of India! Picture source: Times of India, June 5, 2014.

Dr. Narendra Kumar
Editor, Optometry Today
OptometryToday@gmail.com

Preserve water…safeguard optometry

While water-demand increases with every passing day, its availability is becoming scarce…so much so that in near future battles are likely be fought over this issue if immediate steps are not put in place for its proper conservation. Urgent action on water management needs to be taken on many fronts…”we need to worship water like our ancestors did and manage it properly if we wish to have a future”, asserts Brahma Chellany, author of `Water, Peace and War: Confronting the Global Water Crises’. Picture (Hindustan Times, May 3, 2014, Mahendra Parikh) shows women drawing water from the only well at Gorai village, Borivli, Mumbai.

Scant regard is also being paid to optometry by Government authorities who introduced this noble profession of primary eye care in the country more than half a century ago (in the year 1958) but have not cared to bring out legislation to regulate its practice only in the hands of those who are qualified. And, in the interest of people’s efficient visual welfare, there’s urgent need to safeguard optometry by transforming it as the true first line of defence against blindness by establishing the Optometric Council of India.

Dr. Narendra Kumar

Rewari locos lucky for movies

Almost all the films that have been shot at Rewari steam locomotive shed, namely Gadar, Veer Zara, Guru, Love Aajkal, and Rang De Basanti, have been runaway hits. The latest movie, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, also gets off to a good start.

The yard at Rewari (Haryana) is the only steam loco shed that remains in the country. A number of block busters have had it in the backdrop and used the Akbar (Shahanshah) loco engine, a WP model steam engine that served the Delhi-Kolkata main line.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag was filmed in October 2012 at Rewari, and the adjoining railway colony served as an apt setting for Milkha’s childhood scenes, reports Times of India, July 17, 2013 (picture by Anindya Chattopadhyay).

Rewari is my birth-place; it was once called the metal city known for quality brass utensils; stainless steel utensils were introduced here way back in 1950s by Aggarwal Metal Works; and the district town is still known for its mouth-watering sweets, `barfi’.

All my schooling was completed at Rewari, and even my optometric career started at this place (prior to joining Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, I used to visit Shree Komal Hospital, now known as Dr. S. N. Saxena’s Nursing Home). My father, Lala Chandu Lal, was a self-made, hard-working, and respectable Petition Writer.

Dr. Narendra Kumar

OptometryToday@gmail.com