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head, senior officers from WHO headquarters
in Geneva, representatives from the South-
East Asia office, members of the Global SPECS
Network, and key officials from the Indian
government and the Government of Assam. Also
present were leaders from the eye health and
care sectors, including experts in community
and preventive ophthalmology.
The Optometry Confederation of India (OCI)
was represented by Ms. Paula. During the
workshop, Dr. Lakshmanan, MD of the National
Health Mission (NHM) – Assam, launched an
Assamese-language website for the WHO TAP
initiative and its mobile app. Other notable
attendees included:
In the pilot phase, the community-based
Dr. Aparna C., Program-In-Charge, NPCBVI, public health initiative will focus on refractive
Government of India.
care services in three districts: Kamrup,
Dr. Manoj Choudhary, Additional DME & ED, Morigaon, and Nagaon. The service delivery
NHM, Government of Assam. model, Integrated People-Centered Eyecare,
will draw from Sri Sankaradeva Nethralaya’s
Dr. Om Prakash, Mission Director, Samagra proven community service framework.
Shiksha Assam.
OCI was the only optometry organisation
Bhaskar Jyoti Manta, Director, Social Justice which was invited to be a part of the WHO
& Empowerment, Government of Assam. workshop in Assam, an honour indeed.
Representatives from eye hospitals, non- OCI plans to use all its experience in community
profits, corporate social responsibility initiatives, and school screening which it conducts
the instrument industry, and optometry also in various parts of India to implement
participated in the discussions. strategies in the Northeast. OCI already works
in the Northeast with private practitioners,
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY such as unsung heroes, who work in remote
parts of India to provide SPECS services.
The workshop focused on challenges, Additionally, OCI also works with educational
opportunities, and practical strategies for institutions such as Bansara College of
implementing the SPECS 2030 initiative across Optometry Shillong and Sankardev Nethralaya
India. Assam was selected as the pilot state for Guwahati to provide primary eye care services
this initiative. Once successful, WHO plans to through various projects.
replicate the model in other Indian states.
Apart from services, OCI also conducts
OCI provided several key suggestions, various training programs for optometrists, to
including: support them in their community and outreach
1. Promoting integration between public projects. This basically helps them with a good
and private sectors in refractive error care, head start while planning projects and service
optometry, and dispensing services. delivery and makes them competent for their
delivery. These multi-centred approaches along
2. Encouraging continuing education for eye with its experience of conducting projects in
care professionals. the north-eastern region will help support steps
taken within the WHO SPECS 2030 initiative.
3. Leveraging the existing optometry workforce
and engaging optometry colleges.
78 | THE INDIAN OPTICIAN | NOV-DEC 2024 REPORT
