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Bulgarian opticians and optometrists are afraid the new amendments to the Healthcare Act would leave them struggling to keep their jobs. File photo
Opticians and optometrists protested Monday in front of the Bulgarian Health Ministry against the amendments to the Healthcare Act, which were adopted by the parliament in the beginning of December.
According to the protesters, the new rules, which state that only eye care professionals could perform examinations in optics, will leave optometrists without jobs and will make the work of opticians more difficult.
They insisted that the Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov should veto the law and warned that they would approach the Constitutional Court if their demands are not heard.
“Health consultation in an optics is an optical activity. No doctor would sell glasses. The amendment is taking away the right of the optics to do its job. In this way, the work is given to eye care professionals and the optometrist is taken out of the legislation,” said Mina Dimitrova, the spokeswoman of the Bulgarian Association of Opticians and Optometrists.
In her words, the number of free eye care professionals is about 300, while the optics are almost 2,000.
According to the association, only big optics chains will survive the new rules because they will be able to hire eye care professionals and sell glasses. However, in small towns and cities, people would not be able to examine their eyesight.
“About 3,000-4,000 people will lose their jobs and many optics will announce bankruptcy,” Dimitrova said.
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