PECULIARITIES OF THE ORGANISATION AND AVAILABILITY OF OPTOMETRIC CARE IN LITHUANIA

"In Lithuania, optometric care has been introduced into the healthcare system since 1 November 2018, following the entry into force of the Lithuanian medical standard MN 166:2018 "Optometrist" (Order No V-813), approved by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania. This standard defines an optometrist as a personal health care professional who has acquired the professional qualification of an optometrist in accordance with the procedure established by legislation. The practice of optometry is the optometric care of adults by an optometrist in accordance with his/her professional qualification and the established competence, as regulated by law. Optometric care' means the part of personal health care that includes the examination of vision, refraction and abnormalities of the eye, correction with spectacles and/or contact lenses and the issuing of prescription charts for spectacles and/or contact lenses. The importance of optometrists in primary eye care is enormous, given that globally there are approximately 1.3 billion people with visual impairment. The main causes of visual impairment are uncorrected refractive errors (myopia, hyperopia, presbyopia, astigmatism) and uncorrected cataracts, as well as chronic eye diseases like glaucoma. The effectiveness and benefits of optometrists in primary eye health care, especially in the prevention of cataracts and glaucoma, are supported by studies in the United Kingdom. However, there are no studies assessing the situation of optometric care in Lithuania, even though optometrists have been practising for more than 12 years.

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