By Eulalee Thompson, Staff Reporter 
Optical shops are popping up all over the place but they don't all have practitioners who are registered and qualified to test your eyes.
PERSONS WHO pass themselves off to unsuspecting members of the public as qualified to perform eye tests can only be fined $40 if caught and convicted.
In the unlikely event that they cannot afford the fine, the Resident Magistrate may order that the person be confined, at Her Majesty's pleasure, for a term not exceeding six months, with or without hard labour. To say that this old law The Opticians Act dating back to December 14, 1926, requires updating is surely an understatement. The optometrists have been trying to get a more modern law.
"We have been trying to change this old law from the 1980s but its been slow in the process. We have made submissions for the law to be changed and amended," said Dr. Dawn Woo-Lawson, president of Jamaica Optometric Association.
The optometrists want the one-off registration process to be replaced by regular re-registration pegged to continuing education; they would like the registration fee to be more substantial than the current $2.10 and more than all, they would like the law to have more teeth when people are caught testing eyes without a licence.
"The whole profession needs updating... testing eyes is not just about testing for glasses, it's testing for diabetes, glaucoma and other eye conditions. We don't want people to give glasses to patients when something else is wrong with their eyes," said Dr. Woo-Lawson.
UNQUALIFIED PRACTITIONERS
Too many "unqualified optical practitioners", she said, are just popping up all over the place some of them in Kingston and St. Andrew but the problem is perhaps more acute in rural areas where practitioners are sparse.
"It's back-to-school time and we know that more persons are taking their children for health checks including eye tests and we want to make sure that people are examining and testing their eyes at places where practitioners are registered and qualified to do so," she said. "There are certain persons doing eye examinations, persons working out of optical shops, who are not registered to test eyes."
In the eye care business there are opticians, optometrists and ophthalmologists. There are two types of opticians the dispensing optician who fits glasses and recommends lenses and the mechanical optician who makes and grinds lenses. The optometrists, apparently carries out almost all the tasks of an ophthalmologist (a trained medical doctor who specialises in eye care) except eye surgery. Optometrists examine eyes, test for eye problems such as eye diseases, diagnose diseases, prescribe corrective lenses and glasses and identify abnormalities of the eyes. The line of demarcation, however, may not be that clear cut, as the terms 'optician' and 'optometrist' are used depending on whether the system is British or American.
Dr. Barry Wint, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), said that the health hierarchy is aware of the inadequacies in the current law governing the eye care industry and are taking steps to improve the situation.
"We are trying to modernise the legislation but what is in place currently can address those who are practising without being properly registered because there is an Optician's Board. "Illegal" practitioners can be reported to the Board and they (the Board) can write to the illegal
practitioners," he said.
The setting up of a shop or practice, is governed by the Companies' Act and Dr. Wint indicated that this Act would not relate to the professional side of the practice. To cover the professional side of the practice, the Health Ministry is not trying to amend or update the current outdated law but to replace it. The modern practitioner in the future will practise under the Professions Supplementary to Medicine Act.
"We are trying to fast track it (the change) but we can't put a timeline on it because it relates to a whole set of processes which are outside this ministry," Dr. Wint said.
Who's testing your eyes? Send comments to eulalee.thompson@gleanerjm.com.
