For every 100,000 population in India, we have 1.50 Ophthalmologists to 0.60 Optometrists while Australia has 3.30 : 12.50, Canada has 3.30 : 10.26, New Zealand 2 : 10, UK 1.06 : 13.27 and USA 5.70 to 10.99. This shows where we stand in quality eye care. Blindness prevention needs Optometry and with the population of India hitting the billion mark, approximately 100,000 more Optometrists are needed to adequately care for those in need.
BITS Pilani in addition to a MS Medical Laboratory Technology programme, has been offering for the past over a decade BS and MPhil degree Programs in Optometry in collaboration with the Elite School of Optometry, a constituent institution of the Medical Research Foundation established by Sankara Nethralaya, the Chennai based premier eye care and research centre. For the past 7 years BITS, Pilani has also been offering the BS Optometry program in collaboration with Bausch & Lomb School of Optometry established by the L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad.
In the mid 60s, the Physician Assistant (PA) program was developed by Dr Eugene Stead, Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Duke University, North Carolina, USA to train health care professionals for rural areas which faced dwindling numbers of physicians and nurses. Physician Assistants are medically trained professionals who by working closely with their supervising physicians can provide comprehensive health care services and quality medical care and be important members of the health care delivery team of any nation.
BITS Pilani has been offering for the past over a decade BS Physician Assistant programme in collaboration with Madras Medical Mission, Chennai and for the last two years with Frontier Lifeline, Chennai. The objective of the PA program of BITS, Pilani is to prepare students to provide quality care for a diverse population in a changing health care environment through an education based in Modern Medicine with a focus on Holistic Thinking.
BITS Pilani along with its collaborators indeed has been walking the Health Care Delivery Road in India today through the ranked among the best Optometry, Physician Assistant and Medical Laboratory Technology Programmes. Details of above programmes are available in www.bits-pilani.ac.in/
Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani is a Leading University in India today offering degrees in Engineering, Management, Pharmacy, Sciences, Engineering Technology, Information Systems, General Studies, Finance, etc presently at Pilani, Dubai, Goa campuses and in the near future at Hyderabad campus. BITS Pilani also offers an array of work integrated learning programmes for HRD of a vast spectrum of Indian corporates.
