Mr. Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of
State, Labour & Employment says, “The
traditional core of optometry has been
the assessment of visual health and
management strategies centered on
spectacle lens and contact lens therapy.
providing two-thirds of all
primary eye care in India,
organised the 37th edition of The
All India Optometry Conference
during March 30 – April 1, 2018
in New Delhi.
Dr. Rajeev Prasad, Conference
Chairman, AIOC 2018 added
that “the All India Optometry
Conference (AIOC 2018) engaged
collective experience & expertise
of practitioners, optometrists,
industry partners, academia
and technology organizations
to discuss, deliberate, share &
learn the best of practices and
leadership traits”.
Volume 3 | Issue 3 | July-September 2018
45
Themed
“Innovations
in
Delivery & Access of Eye care”,
the conference provided an
opportunity to share research,
experiences
and
eye
care
advancements to participants
from all across the country but
also facilitated the development
of economically viable primary
eye care services that are easily
600 plus industry delegates &
20+ exhibitors; thus, offering
exceptional value both as a
traditional technical conference &
a global networking forum”.
“The role of optometrists in
tackling the problem of refractive
error and visual impairment
is important. Timely detection
of refractive errors and their
correction by spectacle can not
only improve the child’s potential
AIOC 2018 Organising Secretary,
Dr. Subodh Dixit said “the 37th
AIOC 2018 conference spread
over 16 interactive sessions &
10 workshops showcased over
75 prolific speakers, nearly
Mr. Ashok Siddharth, MP (Rajya
Sabha) & Member Parliamentary
Standing Committee on Health
and Family Welfare noted that
“Optometrists today provide
approximately two-thirds of all
eye care in the country and are
prepared to meet the growing
needs of the public”.
In the backdrop of the above,
Indian Optometric Association,
the apex industry association
representing
approximately
12,000 Doctors of Optometry,
optometry
students
and
paraoptometric
assistants
Mr. Santosh Kumar Gangwar,
Minister of State, Labour &
Employment says, “The traditional
core of optometry has been the
assessment of visual health and
management strategies centered
on spectacle lens and contact
lens therapy. This core, however,
has expanded greatly over the
past century to include a number
of other important services.
Today's optometry professionals
are well educated and well
trained to provide the full range
of services thereby enhancing
vision, protecting health and
preventing avoidable blindness
due to refractive errors and visual
impairment by over 80%”.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr.
Anil Tyagi, President, Indian
Optometric
Association
said
“AIOC has become synonymous
with
providing
participants
from across India & abroad, an
excellent opportunity to share
their research, experiences &
optometry advancements. They
sought to generate, from the
conference, a better understanding
of the role of optometry in
erradicating the 80 percent
avoidable blindness in India and
other developing countries. The
key to success would be making
primary eye-care services easily
accessible &economicaaly viable
for common public”
Optometrists as the first point
of contact for primary eye
care services and equipped
with the requisite knowledge
and expertise, thus create a
huge impact in preventing this
avoidable blindness & vision
impairment .
The hard work and devotion of
Indian optometrists within their
profession and around their
communities thus provides an
invaluable service to millions of
Indian citizens. Without their
dedication, desire to serve the
community and professionalism
in delivering excellent eye care
services; our fellow countrymen
would not enjoy the optimal vision
they have today.
accessible to common public.
This calls for reducing the backlog
of avoidable blindness through
identification and treatment
of curable blind at primary,
secondary and tertiary levels,
based on assessment of the overall
burden of visual impairment in
the country.
during the formative years but
also
prevent
complications
associated with uncorrected
refractive error” said Dr. Promila
Gupta, Director General of Health
Services, Ministry of Health &
Family Welfare.
This is highly alarming & needs
drastic wholesale measures”.