Report on the status of vision care in Israel

Recognition of optometry in Israel has not been achieved due to various factors: the lack of recognition by the Ministry of Health in proposing a law of optometry to the Knesset (Parliament); the opposition of organized ophthalmology; the internal conflict between the various associations of opticians and optometrists within the country which lead to a lack of unification for propagation of a law of optometry; the absence of an academic institution of learning in optometry. The establishment of the Optometric Centre by the American Friends of Israel Optometry has instituted low vision clinics and post-graduate courses which have helped to advance optometry. Optometry must become organized in order to apply pressure on the Ministry of Health in order to recognize optometry as an independent profession. There is a need for the establishment of operating courses to equalize the standard of eye-care in the profession, and for the founding of an academic school of optometry to maintain a constant supply of qualified optometrists.