Optometrists are the primary healthcare practitioners of the eye and visual system who provide comprehensive eye and vision care, which includes refraction and dispensing, detection/diagnosis and management of disease in the eye, and the rehabilitation of conditions of the visual system.
Need of The Hour
Blindness and vision impairment continue to be significant public health issues in India. Currently, there are an estimated 4.95 million blind persons and 70 million vision impaired persons in India, out of which 0.24 million are blind children.(1) Prevention is better than cure .According to WHO 80% cases of blindness are either curable or preventable.
At present ophthalmologists bear much of the burden of providing comprehensive eye care in India. The integration of highly educated four year trained optometrists into primary health services is a means of correcting refractive error(one of the major causes of treatable blindness ) and detecting ocular disease in the periphery ,at the earliest , sharing the eye care responsibility between ophthalmologists and optometrists.(2)
How to become an optometrist ?
A Student can do +2 with Science(Biology recommended). Then complete Bachelors in Optometry (B.Optom/B.Sc. Optometry).
What are the future prospects for an optometrist ?
Further one can pursuit Masters in Optometry (M.Optom) and Doctorate in Optometry (OD).
B.Optometry course at MAMC Agroha
The B.Optometry course at Department of Ophthalmology ,MAMC,Agroha started in 2018 with 10 seats per year. It is a 4 year course (3 year + 1 year internship).
Faculty – Dr Parveen Rewri , Prof. & Head, Department of Ophthalmology
Dr Sagarika Aggarwal, Professor , Department of Ophthalmology
Dr Aparna Singhal, Associate Professor , Department of Ophthalmology
Dr Vibha Yadav, Assistant Professor, Department of Ophthalmology
Mr. Ravi Pal , Optometrist
Mr. Ankur Pruthi , Optometrist
University Rankers in Dec 2022 University exam:
Ms. Ritika, Batch 2019 – First Rank
Ms. Sakshi , Batch 2020 – First Rank
The students and faculty have worked shoulder to shoulder during the COVID-19 pandemic and Mucormycosis epidemic in Haryana.
The Optometry Department is actively participating in screening camps for eye diseases and awareness drives for Glaucoma ,Eye donation etc. by way of “Nukkad Natak” that have been conducted under the Community Ophthalmology wing under the supervision of the HOD , Department of Ophthalmology.
