What countries have "optometrist" as official recognized and regulated career ?

[Apple_Pie]

Guys,

In USA, Canada, "optometrist" is officially recognized as a career and is regulated by government agencies. Can you tell me what other countries in the world recognize "optometrist" career.

Because for example in Singapore, the career of "optometrists" is not really defined or recognized and is not regulated by a govenment agency. There is no formal optometric program that was recognised by the Education Ministry. Most optometrists received their formal education overseas. and there the duties of optomterists is actually done by opticians.

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[xmattODx]

You ask a tough question. To begin with, what it an optometrist? Can a refracting optician be considered an optometrist in the right context?

They are very few (maybe no) countries that have optometry as a post-grad. degree like here in the US or Canada.

A place you can start to answer your question is the World Council of Optometry (they list "members" but do they meet your definition of optometrist?).

See http://www.worldoptometry.org/members.htm

You can also request a copy of a great presentation given by Dr. Nelson Rivera at the VOSH annual retreat. See point 7 here: http://www.vosh.org/news2006annualmeetingregistration72.html

He discusses the state of "optometry" in Latin America and compares and contrasts the number of optometrists and opticians and their level of training.

Good luck. By the way what is the reason for your question?

 

[premeder]

there are a number of countries with optometry schools with standardized curricula. ghana is just starting to produce real optometrists out of their schools there, india, nigeria, south africa, tanzania. i think ghana, nigeria, tanzania, south africa are the only african countries with optometry schools. even fewer with ophthalmology residencies.