Optometric insights

Inaugural lecture--Department of Optometry, Rand Afrikaans University, 31 July 1984The creation of a new school of Optometry at the Rand Afrikaans University in co-operation with the existing school at the Technikon, Witwatersrand provides a unique opportunity for the profession and the public it serves. Optometric education started in South Africa 52 years ago as a diploma course at the Witwatersrand Technical College. The first degree course in optometry was instituted at the University of the North in 1975 to be followed by the University of Durban-Westville in 1980. Optometry is responsible for approximately 80% of the vision care rendered in South Africa and its 600 practitioners serve the total population in a ratio of approximately 1 : 43 000. The United States, which leads the world in optometric care, has 21 000 optometrists for its 230 000 000 people and a proportion of one practitioner to approximately 11 000. With technological progress advancing at a highly accelerating rate and greater demands being made on the human visual system, optometric educators are of the view that the ideal ratio of optometrist to population is 1 : 7 000. Yesterday's image of the optician/optometrist who tested your eyes and made your glasses is fast being replaced by a professional who is concerned with human function through the development, maintenance and enhancement of vision and more specifically with the detection, correction and ultimate prevention of visual errors. Although not trained in South Africa to treat eye diseases, the optometrist is taught to recognise systemic and ocular pathology, and accepts as a secondary though important responsibility the referring of patients with such conditions for appropriate care and treatment. The Profession accepts the premise that if vision plays a part, Optometry has a role. Because vision is man's dominant sense, through which he learns and controls more than any other sense, it is imperative that the optometrist receives as broad and education as possible. The university is the ideal environment to develop the thinking processes, creativity and insights of its students. The university with its interrelated faculties offers fertile ground for interdisciplinary interaction and symbiosis. The university, by virtue of its commitment to postgraduate study provides the opportunities for advanced specialised study and research. Optometry, like all healthy professions, requires this stimulation in order to cater for the changing visual demands which relate to our ever changing environment. The history of Optometry shows that a good number of its original spectacle makers were responsible for significant scientific developments leading to enhancement of human life. The invention of spectacles, the microscope, the steam engine and the ophthalmoscope have all had a profound effect on subsequent generations. South Africa has, to date, lacked a sound infra-structure to support its vision care professions. There have been no organised courses to train its optical technicians, technologists or optical dispensers. It is hoped that, through co-operation between the Technikon and the University, a more solid support system will be developed. Through the opportunities afforded by university education, Optometry in South Africa stands poised to make its contribution in the field of vision care and to the benefit of all mankind