Editor:
Thank you for giving attention to the Minister of Health Services' proposed regulatory change which would allow people to acquire eye wear without requiring eye care, effective May 1 (Coast Reporter, April 16).
It would turn British Columbia into the only jurisdiction in North America where citizens are encouraged to neglect their ocular health. This is like telling people it's OK to wait until you have a heart attack before you visit a doctor.
The disastrous consequences of failing to diagnose eye diseases have been unforeseen by the minister's advisors.
Local MLA Nicholas Simons has never received more mail than on this subject. Even the CNIB has written Minister Falcon to point out that 4,700 British Colum-bians lose their vision every year with vision loss costing Canadians $2.1 billion per year in direct and indirect costs.
Preventing vision loss is best achieved by diagnosing eye disease before people are aware that they have a problem. Discovering ocular health problems in an unsuspecting person is a daily occurrence in optometry clinics. The effect of the regulatory change will be to allow serious eye diseases to remain undiagnosed until the person experiences some degree of vision loss. Instead of preventing vision loss, our job will become more about treating and rehabilitating people with low vision.
Thanks to all who have contacted our MLA to encourage the Minister of Health Services to postpone this legislation until a proper consultative process has occurred, including constructive meetings with eye doctors and a full review of important reference material published by university researchers. Please become a fan of this Facebook page: www.facebook.com/speakoutforeyehealth. For more information, see www.whatcouldbemoreimportant.com.
Dr. Grant Wood, optometrist, Wilson Creek
