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Source:
www.moh.gov.sg |
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Parliamentary Speech for the Second Reading of
the Optometrists and Opticians Bill 2007 |
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17 Jul 2007 |
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By Mr Heng Chee How |
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Venue: Parliament |
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Background |
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Like other countries, eye care in Singapore
is provided by ophthalmologists, with auxiliary support from
optometrists and opticians. Our ophthalmologists are highly trained and
enjoy an international reputation with many foreign patients as their
clientele. |
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However, unlike most other countries, we
have largely left the practice of optometry and opticianry unregulated.
This is historical. |
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Some years ago, the Health Ministry
decided that we should bring the practice of optometry and
opticianry under regulation and started to prepare the industry
for it. |
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In 1994, we took the first major step
when the Singapore Polytechnic launched a diploma course in
optometry and certificate courses in ophthalmic dispensing. |
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This was to provide the industry with
well-trained optometrists and opticians to help raise the standard
of eye care by these allied health professionals. |
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Over the years, the Singapore
Polytechnic has graduated about 600 optometrists and provided
training for about 300 opticians. We now have an active market in
such eye care practices with competitive prices. |
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In 1995, we took the second major step
when the Contact Lens Practitioners (CLP) Act was introduced to
regulate contact lens practice. This was a priority to ensure
public safety by allowing only properly trained practitioners to
fit and dispense contact lens. |
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We are now ready to take the third
major step by bringing legislation to bear on the remaining
practices of optometry and opticianry which fall outside of the
CLP Act. |
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This is an important piece of
legislation particularly because myopia is rather common in
Singapore. |
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Our prevalence rate is high at 40%
among Chinese adults over 40 years old, as compared to say, 15%
among Australians and 27% among Americans in the same age group. |
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The problem will grow as our
population ages. There are several reasons why we need to regulate
the practice of optometrists and opticianry. |
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First, the public will then be better
assured of high standards of primary eye care, refraction and
optical aid dispensing. |
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Second, practitioners will be required
to maintain high standards in their professional practice through
mandatory continuing professional education (CPE). |
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Third, errant practitioners may be
disciplined for, amongst other things, professional misconduct or
negligence, or any improper act or conduct which brings disrepute
to his profession, arising from a complaint brought by an
aggrieved patient. |
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Our Approach to Regulation |
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The regulation of optometrists and
opticians is, however, not straight-forward. In most other
countries, there is a clear division of labour between
optometrists and opticians, depending on their training. |
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Optometrists are trained to perform
refraction and basic eye examination procedures such as examining
eyeball pressure, visual field and retina (innermost lining of the
eyeball essential for vision). |
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On the other hand, opticians are
trained to prepare, adjust and fit optical aids and perform other
retail duties. |
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However in Singapore, there is much
overlap between the practices of these two groups of eye care
professionals, with opticians doing refraction and optometrists
dispensing optical aids. |
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As a result, our public has become
accustomed to having both refraction and dispensing provided by
the same optical service provider rather than being served by
separate providers as is practised in developed western countries. |
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In developing our regulatory
framework, our principal objective is to ensure that optometry and
opticianry services are safe for our public. |
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While we want to regulate the
optometrists and opticians as two distinct professions, we want to
take into account market realities and avoid unnecessary
disruption to the way that the public uses the services of these
professionals. |
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Our legislation will therefore enable
opticians to continue to perform refraction provided that they are
properly trained. |
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But we propose to exclude children
under 8 from the persons whom an optician may refract. Young
children are more difficult to refract and may have eye anomalies
that opticians are not trained to detect. |
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With our legislation, refraction
services for such young children will require the higher skills of
an optometrist. In addition, optometrists will be formally
recognised for their ability to perform basic eye examination
procedures and diagnose certain eye problems. |
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We are mindful that regulation may
cause some disruption to the practices of some existing
optometrists and opticians, and we seek to minimise this as far as
possible. |
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Some opticians currently only perform
dispensing and have no intention to learn refraction. We accept
this as part of market reality and will register such opticians to
perform only dispensing so as to allow them to continue their
practice. |
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Nonetheless, there is a competing need
to ensure that opticians attain a reasonable level of competence. |
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To achieve this balance, existing
opticians will be registered under the Act according to their
experience, qualifications and competence. Those who do not
satisfy certain minimum requirements will be required to undergo
upgrading courses in order to qualify for registration. |
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Based on this approach, we have
drafted the Optometrists and Opticians Bill which is now before
this House. |
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More..... |
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Source:
www.moh.gov.sg News Release 17
Jul 2007 |
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Related Article: |
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Two in three Primary Six students have myopia |
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FrontPage Edition: Fri 20 July 2007
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