Abstract

There are many visually impaired people all over the world including South Africa, unfortunately, vision rehabilitation services are lacking in many countries. Currently in South Africa, low vision care is offered by a few private optometric practitioners, optometric institutions and non-governmental organizations. Although most of the major Government hospitals in the country provide ophthalmological services to patients, only a few of these provide optometric services and none provides low vision care services yet. There is therefore, a great need to increase vision rehabilitation services in the country. There are plans to introduce optometry sections into government hospitals in every Province of South Africa and these plans include introduction of low vision care as part of the optometric services. There is, therefore a need for information on how to introduce low vision care services into existing optometry facilities in the Government hospitals and those that may be established in the future. The purpose of the article is to discuss how low vision services can be introduced into public eye care facilities. Issues relating to rehabilitation of visually impaired patients, low vision care, infrastructure, equipment, low vision devices and human resources are discussed in this paper. To justify the facility needs, basic information on assessment procedure of low vision patients is included. Also, names and contact details of a few companies supplying low vision devices in South Africa are provided. The contents of this article will be useful to health care managers in the government hospitals; especially those in charge of the optometry services as well as the optometrists who may wish to work in the low vision care sections in Government hospitals.

Highlights

  • Optometry in the Public Sector Hospitals and comprehensive health care environments tend to orientate themselves to the communities that they serve in ways that single or even association practice of optometry cannot provide

  • Optometry has much to offer in the eye care services in the government hospitals as it is well positioned as a primary health care profession[2]

  • Depending on the cataract surgical rate and coverage of refractive services, it has been estimated that approximately 2025% of the number of visually impaired people may benefit from low vision services[17]

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Summary

Introduction

Optometry in the Public Sector Hospitals and comprehensive health care environments tend to orientate themselves to the communities that they serve in ways that single or even association practice of optometry cannot provide. The essential value of optometric care in a hospital and in a medical centre or in a comprehensive health environment stems from the opportunity to lend optometry’s unique talent and professional abilities to the other services that professional disciplines offer in a comprehensive environment, all for the benefit of the patient[1]. It is an opportunity for learning from disciplines other than optometry, and for all healthcare professionals to understand the skills, talents and services that optometry provides

AO Oduntan
Non optical
Items supplied
Assessment of visually impaired patients
Findings
Conclusion
Full Text
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