Day: June 9, 2023

To sustain a life an option of one of the innumerable, ostensible means of livelihood is unavoidably necessary, although means of livelihood does not always justify the ends of life. No means of livelihood is undignified or inglorious. Sometimes some means of livelihood because of their very nature is used to evoke a sense of respect and reverence to those who had the same means of livelihood; For example, teachers, lawyers, and doctors have been in high esteem, since time immemorial. Even before independence the career of a lawyer was preferable to that of a doctor. The Constitution of India has guaranteed fundamental right to practise or to carry on any profession or occupation, trade or business. Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India does not, however, prevent the state from making any law relating to the professional or technical qualifications necessary for practising any profession.

It is for this reason, the Advocates Act was enacted in 1961 to control and regulate the activities of the legal professionals. This Act also prescribed law graduation as the minimum qualification for taking up legal profession. Planned economy, industrialisation, urbanisation and above all advancement of science and technology had opened up multifarious and avenues of employment to the law graduate apart from taking up independent legal practise. It is also for this reason there has been a growing craze for studying law. Where there has been a sharp decline in the prospect of employment in the engineering sector, there has been noticeable boom in the field of legal education. It is because of the fact that a law graduate, even if does not find any employment may eke out his livelihood by doing legal practise. As regards career building after LLB one may become a legal advisor or may join law firms, private companies, corporate bodies, and other financial institutions. One may provide advice on various matters or may use one’s legal expertise in various activities of non- government organisations.  The scope of law is not only limited to handling civil and criminal disputes, there are various career options available in the field of corporate lawyers, litigators, legal advisors and law firm partners. Law graduates may also find employment in various courts of law and tribunals. The importance of Law is that people know what they can and cannot do. Without law society would be disorganised.  The study of Law is in some respect no different to other academic disciplines, in that it is intellectually challenging and very reviting. Moreover, with the establishment of law universities and law colleges, persons with higher law degrees may opt for the profession of academicians. Henceforth, it can be said that most Universities Law School now offers extensive Post Graduate Research Degrees that can assist Lawyers wishing to continue learning and developing ace. With the setting up of a different tribunal as per the provision of Article 323Aand 323B of the Constitution of India fora under Consumer Protection Act and introduction of new system of Arbitration as per International Protocol of Arbitration and Conciliation Act ,1996 the scope of activities of the persons with legal education has been widened in a get extent.  

Blindness and Visual Impairment are the major social issues which can set back a country’s development and cause major hindrance in our society development process. Cataract and refractive error are the major causes of blindness in our society and early detection and proper treatment of both this condition (surgical and optical) can help patients to get back their vision lost by these conditions.

National Program for Control of Blindness launched by Govt of India to stop a patient to go unnecessary blind has emphasized to undergo timely cataract operation services and distributing free glasses to people in need to stop a person form going visually handicapped. Although the number of patient going blind due to cataract has gone down in the past few decades but still it remains one of the important causes of blindness in our society. Uncorrected Refractive Error remains the second most important causes for blindness in India as there are lack of qualified optometrist to screen, diagnose and identify the reasons of not wearing spectacles among young school going children.

Optometrist are  primary eye health care professional who diagnose and treat different refractive error and prescribe glasses specially to young school children who are in need of spectacle , as we all know that major vision develops happens until the age of 6 years , so if a child is not wearing  his prescription in the first 6 year his vision development will not be complete and it could cause severe problem in visual system which can cause severe hindrance in his/her academic and personal career.  Glasses are also an important optical device to give 100 percent vision after cataract surgery and optometrist are specialized to prescribe and dispense spectacle in all age group in both rural and urban population.

There are only 42,000 primary eye care professional out of population of 140 corer population, definitely is not enough to screen entire population of all age groups, so in India there is huge demand of optometrist both in private and government sector in upcoming years and decade to give quality eye care services who are in need of it.

Optometry has several branches which provide various eye health care facilities to various section of our society for providing quality eye care services and eradicating blindness in our society.

1. Correction of Refractive Error and Dispensing Spectacle: Optometrist not only prescribe glasses but they also take a call to dispense right choice of spectacle and glasses to right prescription as it is directly related to compliance of spectacle wearing, if a child or an adult doesn’t like his or her spectacle he will never wear it as a reason the patient will drop out form wearing spectacles and it will lead to severe problem in vision development.
2. Contact Lenses: Optometrist are not only primary eye health care professional but they contribute a lot in tertiary eye care services as they are trained to evaluate fit and fitting evaluation and dispensing contact lenses for patient who need it for diagnostic and medical treatment. Contact Lenses are also considered as an optical devices other than spectacles to correct refractive error as people who are not comfortable with glasses they can be motivated to use contact lenses to correct their refractive error and who else than optometrist can suggest a best solution for contact lenses in terms of contact lens material, types of uses and precautions which need to take while wearing and removing the lenses.
3. Orthoptics: Optometrist are the primary eye health care professionals who takes care of the squint and eye movement anomalies with the help of therapy which is often known as vision therapy through which different types of latent and manifest squint can be corrected and this treatment and therapy prescription is known as orthoptics. There are many types of squint one major reasons of squint is uncorrected refractive error, if a child is not wearing his/her prescription for longer period of time specially during the critical period of vision development there is high chance of developing squint and it can be corrected by continuous wearing of spectacles and vision therapy treatment.
4. Low Vision: Low Vision patients are those who after rigorous medical and surgical treatment their vision cannot be restored to normal vision, these patients need special attention through various optical and non-optical intervention these treatment procedure is often described as low vision treatment and rehabilitation. Optometrist being the primary eye health care professional can treat this patient and can stop this patients form going to complete blind.
5. Ocular Diagnostics: Optometrist takes a vital role in tertiary care eye institute specially in the field of ocular diagnosis and instrument work up, specially diagnosing ocular disorders like glaucoma, cataract, and diabetic retinopathy. They are responsible for handling highly sophisticated instruments like Optical Coherence Tomography and Humphrey Visual Field Analyzer.

Thus in this article we have learned the role of optometrist in different spectra of eye care industry and their special role in eradicating blindness form our society.

Every one of us want to lead a healthy lifestyle as we often talk about in the phrase” Health is wealth”. However, in the present day scenario we observe the hospitals to be full with patients with deadly diseases like cancer, hypertension, diabetes, respiratory diseases, arthritis, etc. Lifestyle diseases has become a part of the life and the main reason behind them are we ourselves. The sedentary lifestyle that we lead is the root cause behind it, with lots of junk food, work life stress, lack of proper rest or exercise and wide gap in Nutrition due to various reasons. Let us therefore, take a look over the four pillars of optimal health which if we practice can give us the blessing of good health which is so rare nowadays.

The four pillars:

1. Regular exercise:

Regular exercise of 15 to 20 minutes every day gives wonderful results. Exercise improves blood circulation in body and gives us healthy muscles and joints. It gives flexibility to the body. Morning time is the best for exercises. Apart from physical exercises, yoga and meditation can also be practised. Apart from physical benefits, it can also help to relieve stress which is the root cause of many diseases. However, such exercises should be personalized and best if guided by an expert.

2. Adequate rest:

Complete physical and mental rest is very necessary for everybody. Sound sleep of 7-8 hours is sufficient for a body to be refreshed and rejuvenated.  However, many people come with the complaints of disturbed sleep which may result the person to stay fatigued the whole day long with lack of concentration in their regular work. We should maintain a proper routine for bedtime and stick to that. Listening to light relaxing music before going to sleep also help the mind to relax and attain a good sleep.

3. Positive mental attitude:

This is one aspect which is equally important but probably lacking in most individuals. Scare amount of people today live with a positive mental attitude. To have a positive mental attitude and to retain it is really challenging in a life with ups and downs and people are mostly used to pull out negativity in each and every situation. They nurture such negative feelings in mind and share with their near and dear ones, thus, spreading more and more negative. Negative thoughts are like weeds which grow on their own and can in turn lead to stress and more stress. Positive thoughts have to be nurtured in mind with care and they make our minds stress free and help us to feel happy. Positive thoughts are powerful and can bring miraculous results on our health. We have to identify the positive in each and every situation.

4. Adequate Nutrition

Nutrition is the aspect which is having the greatest effect on our lifestyle. If we closely observe, we shall find there is a wide gap in the amount of nutrients a body should get and the amount that we have every day. This may be due to several reasons like:

• Crave for junk food: due to the fast lifestyle, where people overwork, they may often skip important meals and get themselves whatever suits their taste buds and readily available. Due to such regular habits, some people become addicted to junk food which lack in important nutrients and overload the body with unhealthy triglycerides and cholesterol
• Lack of food quality: Due to increasing population, the supply of food is becoming short and there comes hybrid fruits and vegetables in the market which are larger in size and less in nutrients. Adulteration of food items like milk and dairy products, unsuitable means of food preservation and farming practices with high amounts of pesticides and insecticides may cause entry of harmful chemicals in body. According to recent research the food items are much less in nutrients compared to 25-30 years back.

So, what are the important nutrients required by the body? Let us a take a look:

The important nutrients which are essential for everyone are as follows:

1. Carbohydrates: They are found in food like rice, wheat, bread and potato, etc. They give energy to the body, acting as the fuel to the body. Around 6-10 small and frequent servings of carbohydrates can be taken for the energy supply in the body. Generally we do not see deficiency of carbohydrates in people, except for those who are malnourished.
2. Protein: The protein makes the basic building block of the body. Each and every cell of the body from the head to toe is made of protein and thus, makes one of the most important nutrient in the body. The requirement of protein is 1gm per kg of adult body weight and much more in case of growing children or pregnant women. Protein deficiency is commonly found in individuals.
3. Vitamins and minerals: They are micronutrients required in very small quantities but essential. Lack of important vitamins like vitamins A, B group vitamins, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, E or K may cause diseases. Similarly deficiency of important minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese may result in osteoporosis, etc.
4. Fats: Fats are also necessary for the body. Certain vitamins are solubilised in fats like Vitamins A, D, E and K. It forms a part of the skin and has many other essential functions in the body. However, large amount of cholesterol containing foods are harmful as they may lead to heart diseases. One of the good fats are the omega 3 fatty acids which have several beneficial effects in the body. They are good for management and prevention of arthritis, attention deficit syndrome, heart diseases and even cancer.
5. Phytonutrients: Traditional medicines have always known the benefits of phytonutrients which are effective and safe. The more colour we add to our diet with various fruits and vegetables, the more phytonutrients we get. The plants are subjected to the same environmental conditions as we are, but they stay strong in every weather and revive back strongly. This is the benefit of the phytonutrients. Phytonutrients give us vitamins and minerals and antioxidants which help to gain immunity.
6. Fiber: It is the most overlooked nutrient. It does not provide any nutrition as such but very important for gastrointestinal health. It helps in food metabolism and digestion and many inflammatory bowel diseases may result if there is lack of fiber in diet.
7. Water: No nutrient would work if we don’t take adequate amounts of water, around 8-10 glasses of safe water every day. Water helps the nutrients to flow through systemic circulation and help in excretion of waste products in the body. Due to lack of water such waste may accumulate and give toxicity.