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Brazilian legislation limiting ODs scope of practice vetoed
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A clause of medical bill No. 268/2002 recently passed by the Brazilian Congress that would have made nonmedical health care professions, including optometrists, directly dependent on control by doctors has been vetoed by President Dilma Vana Rousseff, according to a World Council of Optometry press release.
According to the WCO, the legislation had been under discussion for 11 years.
“WCO believes that optometry is an autonomous health care profession that is educated and regulated and that restricting it to only acting under the supervision of a medically qualified doctor will severely limit the right of people to easy, immediate and affordable access to health care,” the group said in its press release.” Greater access can ensure that more sight-threatening problems can be identified in their early stages, enabling the prevention of blindness and visual impairment.”