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At issue is a proposal for settlement and integration of optometrists in the NHS rejected yesterday in the Assembly of the Republic, with the vote against the Socialist Party (PS) and with the abstention of deputies of the Social Democratic Party (PSD ). The proposal obtained the favorable votes of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), the Left Bloc (BE) and the Center of the Democratic and Social-Popular Party (CDS-PP).
"After several years of parliamentary debates, numerous hearings and clarifications with different MEPs, we feel that we can not continue to explain to Parliament the benefits for users of the regulation and integration of optometrists in the NHS. It is time for the government to assume its responsibilities in a very specific way, the Ministry of Health, because of the limitations of access to visual health care, "said Raúl Sousa, president of APLO.
"He continues to be complacent with regard to the practice of the profession of optometrist by any person, without any validation of their skills, a fact that has been repeatedly denounced by APLO. It should be noted that this situation also relies on the complacency of those who simultaneously oppose the regulation, exercise by anyone, then accuses the optometric class of heterogeneity, perpetuating the current state of vision care in Portugal ", he added.
The country must take into account the recommendations of the World Health Organization and the practice of the profession of optometrist in the European Union and in the world.
"The country must take into account the recommendations of the World Health Organization and the practice of the profession of optometrist in the European Union and in the world", he declares.
"The government does not defend the interests of the population and has not yet presented a viable solution to reduce the waiting lists for the first consultation of ophthalmology, which already exceeds 200 000 annual consultations" he concludes.
At war with ophthalmologists
Friday, the Portuguese Society of Ophthalmology and the College of Ophthalmology of the College of Physicians said in a statement that optometrists are very heterogeneous "pedagogically, having at most three years of training in total" and that none of the "various programs has any training in health".
In the statement, which stated that the inclusion of optometrists in the NHS represented a significant risk to the health of patients, ophthalmologists also stated that "there is no entity that can certify the quality of their specific training "and that optometrists" do not have projects internships in appropriate entities ". They also stress that "according to WHO, their existence does not reflect the performance of the health system and, above all, does not translate quality into interventions to reduce avoidable blindness".
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