What advantage does the provincial government
see in not insuring patients who are at the highest risk of
blindness?
Doctors of optometry examine three million
patients annually. We are front-line providers who perform a
valuable role in detecting and managing patients with a myriad
of eye conditions. Many of these eye conditions are as a result
of systemic disease.
This decision by the government will
ultimately force patients to be examined by eye surgeons, who
are already in critically short supply and whose practices are
designed for eye surgery and not management of chronic disease
or more common eye diseases such as eye infections.
Patients also may be forced to visit
overworked family doctors who have no equipment to critically
examine delicate eye tissue that is damaged by chronic blinding
diseases such as diabetic retinopathy or glaucoma, and who have
little or no experience in critically evaluating these patients
for internal microscopic eye tissue damage.
Optometrists, as primary eye-care providers,
need legislation to help us do our job better and not restrict
patient access and care. This decision by the provincial
government is the most foolish act I have seen by any
government since I started practising in 1990.
Dr. Peter Rozanec
, Optometrist