Abstract
Many authors have reported on the evolution and trends of optometric education in Africa. Amongst these are articles on Optometry and optometric education in Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, and Ethiopia. This article reports the historical perspectives of optometric education in Ghana and the developments that have been made in the last 20 years. It also attempts to relate the stride made towards legal recognition of optometry in Ghana. In presenting this historical account, it is hoped that sometime in the future, one should be able to look back at the beginning of optometry training in Ghana and be able to measure the advancement or otherwise that have been made since its inception. (S Afr Optom 2011 70(3) 136-141)
Highlights
Several optometric educators have made efforts to document the evolution and trends of optometric education in Africa
The need to establish formal training programmes for optometric education in Ghana was first mooted by the late Dr Francis K Morny, a foremost Britishtrained Ghanaian optometrist
This was occasioned by the failure of a bill that was sent to the Ghanaian parliament for the regulation of the practice of optometry in Ghana in the early 1980s
Summary
Amongst these are Penisten[1] and Sheni[2] (Optometry and optometric education in Africa); Sheni[3] (West Africa); Ogbuehi[4] (Nigeria); Ferreira[5], Oduntan[6] and Mashige[7] (South Africa); Randall and Kumah[8] (emergence of optometric education in Ghana); and Carlson[9] (Ethiopia). The need to establish formal training programmes for optometric education in Ghana was first mooted by the late Dr Francis K Morny, a foremost Britishtrained Ghanaian optometrist. This was occasioned by the failure of a bill that was sent to the Ghanaian parliament for the regulation of the practice of optometry in Ghana in the early 1980s. Following the defeat of the bill in the parliament, Mr Morny (who subsequently became Dr Morny in 1998 after obtaining the Doctor of Optometry (OD) degree from Abia State University, Uturu, Nigeria at the age of 75 years), in 1985 proposed to some Ghanaian universities to start an optometry a OD MPH b BSc OD MSc c BSc OD d BSc PGDip(Optom) OD PhD e BSc(Optom) MSc PhD FAAO
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