Carl Zeiss PhotoFusion : The new self-tinting lens by Zeiss

Carl Zeiss will be launching the new self-tinting lens dubbed PhotoFusion soon in Malaysia.

It is claimed that the lens react 20% faster and fade up to 2x faster then current photochromic lenses currently under its belt.

According to documentation, PhotoFusion lenses are very clear (92%), while outside in the sunshine the lenses turn very dark (11%).

Here's a video on the product by Carl Zeiss



PhotoFusion is available in all Carl Zeiss Single Vision and also Progressive lens range.

Although not launched yet, it is currently being sold at all Carl Zeiss Specialist outlet throughout Malaysia.

Check them out now~!

Korea

4 Days and counting................

PLUS Highway Speed Trap

Was made aware of this by the Wifey in regards to speed traps on the highway.
So just to share it out for those frequent travellers out there.

PLUS North Bound (ke Utara)
*Under a bridge at about 456km, Sg Buloh junction.
*Under a bridge at about 459km, Bukit Lanjan interchange.
*Under the overhead restaurant at Sg Buloh.
*Under the last bridge before Sg Besi toll at 309.2km.
*Under the bridge at 296.5km, Bangi junction.
*Under the newly constructed bridge at 289.0km, after Nilai North junction.
*Under the bridge at 286.5km, Nilai North junction.

PLUS South Bound (ke Selatan)
*Below signboard at about 454.6km and 455.2km, Sg Buloh layby.
*Under the bridge after Subang junction at 11.3km.
*Under the bridge at 22km, Bukit Lanjan junction.
*Under the bridge before Mint hotel, Sg Besi Toll. 80km/h only!
*Under the bridge at 302.8km, Kajang junction.
*About 1km south of Bangi junction, both south and north bound outer lanes
*At 296.5km and 297km, Bangi junction.
*Under the newly constructed bridge at 289.0km, before Nilai North junction.
*At 285.5km and 285.8km, Nilai North junction.
*On center divider at 251.8km and 253km after Senawang junction.
*After Alor Gajah junction at 213.9km, next to water theme park.
*Behind the right hand crash barrier at 198.4km.

Elite Central Link East/North Bound
*On left hand side at 4.8km after Batu Tiga/Shah Alam exit
*Under the overhead restaurant at USJ/Hicom junction about 8.5km. 90km/h zone!
*Below the bridge before USJ/Hicom junction at 10.5km.

Elite Central Link West/South Bound
*Under the overhead restaurant at USJ/Hicom junction about 8.5km. 90km/h zone!
*Below the bridge before USJ/Hicom junction at 10.5km.
*After exit from KLIA toll to the airport, below Jalan Pekeliling flyover.90km/h

NKVE East/North Bound
*300m before Jalan Duta toll, 60km/h!
*Behind crash barrier on the left when going towards Jalan Duta toll, at 24.9km, 80km/h!
*Below bridge at Damansara Junction, 17.5km

NKVE West/South Bound
*Behind crash barrier on the left when leaving Jalan Duta toll from KL, at 25.3km and 25.7km, 80km/h!
*From Jln Duta, below the bridge, 23km, 80km/h zone!
*From Jln Duta, at the underpass at Sg Buloh Y-junction, 22km.
*Behind crash barrier at Damansara Junction, 17.7km and 16.8km
*Below railway bridge at 11.2km
*Under the bridge at Shah Alam junction.

Kesas East Bound
*Under the bridge at 44.8km, downhill run after Puchong junction.

Kesas West Bound
*At Sg Besi side of East Bound Toll. Kuala LumpurCity
*Jalan Duta; below the flyover at the Damansara junction, 70km/h zone.

Klang
*Dual carriageway between Klang and Port Klang. Towards Klang direction, at about 13km mile stone. 70km/h only!

East Coast
*Road sign at Karak highway is inadequate especially at Y junction; if you are unfamilar, go slow.
*East bound, downhill run after Raub junction.
*Maran, 60km/h zone.
*Paya Bungor, 70km/h zone.

SPEED TRAPS IN JOHOR
South Bound
*Tangkak junction.
*Under the bridge after Yong Peng

North junction
*at 97.3km.
*Ayer Hitam junction.
*Sedenak junction.

SPEED TRAPS IN PERLIS, KEDAH AND PENANG

North Bound
*Around Ayer Hitam in 60km/h zone.
*Before Perwaja Steel.
*Sg Petani junction.
*Between Seberang Jaya junction and Sg Dua Toll.
*PenangBridge at island end. Speed limit 80km/h.

South Bound
*Penang Bridge Island end. Speed limit 80km/h.
*About 2km before Juru Toll Speed limit 90km/h.

SPEED TRAPS IN PERAK

North Bound
*Under the bridge at 197.1km and 198.8km, after Kamunting Junction.
*Under the bridge at 204.3km, after Kamunting Junction.
*Under the bridge at 208km, before Kamunting Junction.
*Under the bridge at 214.8km, before Kamunting Junction.
*Ipoh Vista Point at about 263km. Speed limit 80km/h.
*Under the bridge at 271km, Ipoh North Junction.
*Under the bridge at 274.4km, Ipoh South Junction.
*Under the bridge at 286.9km, Simpang Pulai Junction.
*Under the bridge at 296km, Gopeng Junction.
*Under the bridge at 352.6km, after Sungkai Junction.
*Under the bridge at 353km, Sungkai Junction.
*Under the bridge at 373km, Slim River Junction.

South Bound
*Under the bridge at 199km, before Kamunting junction.
*Under the bridge at 241.9km, at Kalau Kangsar junction.
*Under the sign post at 296.1km, before Gopeng junction.
*Under the bridge at 297km, at Gopeng junction.
*Under the bridge at 300km, after Gopeng junction.
*Under the bridge at 308.6km, after Gopeng junction.
*Under the bridge at 372.6km, at Slim River junction.

A tale of 6%

6% : a very familiar figure when receiving bills be it astro, dining out, tm bill and the rest. Most of us don't like it but like any law abiding citizen, we are obligated to pay the service tax that is imposed by our Malaysian government upon every end user in the country.

So when the news that telco companies have decided to impose the same tax on prepaid users, there was of course a major uproar to it. For many years, in the name of competition, the telco's have absorbed this cost and have not charged the end user.

Is it wrong to pass the buck back to the end user now?

While thinking about this, do take note that post paid users have always been paying the service tax from long ago and even your tm landline has 6% imposed on the bill.

My personal opinion would be. WHY NOT?

Honestly speaking, as much as I don't like the imposed tax, we should not also deprived others of what is due to them. Of course one may say that this are huge corporate giants and making them richer at the extend of the poor is not right. However, using this philosophy only on the telco's are absurd. If that is the real case then the 6% tax should be abolished all together by all mega companies like Astro, TM, TNB and the likes. Just because the telco did not charge the 6% do not mean that it is our right to demand for it not to be charged in the future.

We are all spoilt brats blaming the company for it.

Instead, if indeed this is going to be a big issue, we should at least point our fingers at the government which imposed this tax upon us in the first place. Get them to waiver the 6% altogether. But wait, doing this would probably make the government bankrupt and we would then turn into another Greece. This is really a chicken and egg dilemma. On one hand the rakyat is feeling the heat from stagnating pay and inflationary pressures, the telco's also find themselves with deprived revenue for probable expansion to their business. This are all honest companies that have indeed provided us with good value. We have never had rates this cheap for our mobile usage ever and I am sure rates will only get better in the future.

I definitely think it's not right for the government to put their feet into telco's business measures. They didn't do anything when announced their rate hike, they shouldn't do anything now either. The government should instead plan austerity measures to help the rakyat in this lean times.

Stop the rot from it's roots.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:At the office

Fakes at Pavilion?

While having our mid morning coffee, my sister in law was relating to me a story that her sister told her not too long ago.

Apparently, one of her sisters patient is convinced that The Pavilion, famed with Prada's, Gucci's and many more exclusive designer brands are also selling fakes at premium prices.

The story started when the husband bought an LV bag for this lady.



One day the lady went to Paris for a holiday. And with Paris, one would not escape the chance of browsing at the famed Louis Vuitton outlet at Champ Élysées. As she entered the outlet, to her horror, one of the LV staff cut her LV bag strap with a scissors. Of course the lady threw out a fit seeing the lovely LV that was given to her by her loving hubby vandalized. However, the staff in the outlet was firm and told her that the LV bag that she was carrying was a fake. Of course she brought up the fact that the bag was indeed purchased at a genuine LV outlet in Malaysia. Nevertheless, the sales representative cared no word of hers and insisted that it was a fake. And this is not even coming from the branch manager in Paris but from the front desk sales representative. She was then later advices to go back to the LV outlet in Malaysia to seek an explanation if indeed it was bought there.

Of course all this while I would believe that the lady would have really felt small and humiliated as none of the working staff truly believed that she bought the bag from a legitimate LV outlet.

Hence, the moment she came back to Malaysia, the lady stormed into LV, at Pavilion and asked for an explanation. Lo and behold, the branch outlet instantly identified the product as a fake and simply gave an explanation that the fake could be due to an inside job. She was then asked to pick any bag in the outlet as compensation. (wait a minute here, you mean the manager can identify the bag so easily? If that's the case then what guarantee that any of the LV in the outlets are original in the first place?).

We did not dwell on the nitty gritty details that happened after that as we progressed through our conversation that morning.

If I were the lady, I would write a letter to the management of the company, cc them to the domestic trade and consume department, the consumer tribunal, the consumer association and any other related department that I can think off. Hell, I think I may even want to cc it to the prime ministers department!

If it is indeed true that even Pavilion outlets are selling fakes then non of us consumers are safe.

Good thing I buy most of my day to day needs at Jusco...........


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Kepong, while waiting for wife facial to be done

Pasar Malam Contact Lenses : Geo Lens and the likes of it

Recently I am sure many of you have observed the sudden mushrooming of colour and big eye contact lens stalls as we have our nightly stroll along our local pasar malam spots. You will see brands ranging from Geo lens, kinky eyes and much more fancy names associated with it.

This products are mainly bought by secondary school kids that for reason only known to puberty, grab them at the cheap. From my last visit, they are sold at a meager price of RM15 a pair. A big bottle of contact lens solution is more expensive then that!

Then there was this situation I bumped into while I was doing some shopping at Watson's. There is this group of about half a dozen secondary school girls, all clad in skimpy and tight fitting jeans or miniskirts browsing the contact lens solution area. Out of the group, I heard this girl teaching her friend on what product to buy and what not. To my amazement she told them to buy saline to wash their contact lens and not the standard multi purpose solution! The tone of her authority towards those kids could only be described as pure mistress like. I was telling myself, this is really a time bomb waiting to happen. On the way home, I regretted not voicing out towards the young kids on their misgivings.

This is but a small example of a malignant problem in society. Deep inside, I do not feel that authorities will do anything on the illegal sales of contact lens by non professionals in our country so I won't even try to shout about it. Probably the only thing that would turn this around would be a couple dozen of poor kids blinded by such contact lens sales and with the media blazing the news in force.

To those that understand Cantonese, I will leave this YouTube link regarding problems arising from cheap colored contact lens sales in hong kong for you to ponder upon.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Anual Practicing Certificate for Optometrist and Optician

Have you had the insecurity when you go into an optical outlet and wonder if the person that is serving you could not be a professional that he claims to be?

This is a common feeling nowadays by many patients of mine especially contact lens wearer that has been spooked with various negative press regarding the complications that may arise from improper contact lens care. Many of them would ask me if there is any way to identify if the person that is looking after you at the optical outlet is really licensed to do refraction on you.

If you are unsure of the difference between Optometrist and Optician, read here

Generally, there is 2 ways that you can identify if the outlet has a licensed practitioner either for eye refraction for glasses or for the dispense of contact lens or both.

Here i will be explaining on one of the ways (you need both to be absolutely sure).

The first method is via the Annual Practicing Certificate (APC) for Optometrist and Optician.

This is a certificate given out by the Malaysian Optic Council to all licensed practitioner and need to be renewed yearly. According to the Optical Act 1991, every practicing Optometrist and Optician needs to be registered with the Malaysian Optic Council to practice legally in Malaysia. This certificate needs to be displayed prominently at the practicing outlet as proof to the general public of the availability of a licensed practitioner in the outlet.

APC comes in two colour certification (blue colour APC for Optician and green colour APC for Optometrist). In the APC you will find the name of the practitioner along with his/her Mykad number, the date in which the certification is given and its expiration and the name and address of the premise in which he/she is practicing.

APC for Optometrist


APC for Optician (Juruoptik)

What can you as a consumer do if you do not see an APC in an Optical outlet?

You should ask for the APC to be shown to you, if they are not able to do so, then the outlet may be operating illegally. Even if it is shown to you, you must make sure that the person stated on the certification actually works in the outlet.

What if I suspect that the outlet is operating illegally? What is my right as a consumer?
The best way to handle this issue would be to lodge a complaint to the Tribunal of Consumer.


Next part i will talk about the Photo Name Certificate (PNC).

Gong Rumin winner of World Supermodel Contest 2010 China Leaked Nude Photo

Apparently this 26 year old Gong Rumin is a very popular model in China. She won the competition of World Super Model Contest 2010 China held in Hebei on 12/12/2010. This girl managed to beat 3000 other contestant all over China.

And can you guess what she did before she won the contest?? She took some naughty nude pictures (600+ to be exact).

It is said that the photos was taken when she was a beginner in the Model World.

The moral of the story - things you do from the past may come back and haunt you.

I stumbled upon an article recently while I was doing some research on Information Leaflets that I plan to do for work. Its an article by newsportal myMetro on Optometrist and Optician.

Although its in Bahasa Malaysia, its one of the few articles that one can find regarding this field.

Boleh jadi buta

Khamis, 10 Februari 2011

PETALING JAYA: Tindakan orang ramai yang terburu-buru membuat cermin mata di kedai tanpa merujuk kepada ahli optometri apabila penglihatan semakin kabur boleh memberi kesan buruk kepada mata termasuk berisiko menjadi buta.

Ini kerana jarak penglihatan yang semakin kurang jelas bukan sekadar disebabkan rabun, malah ia boleh berlaku disebabkan tanda awal penyakit seperti diabetes, tekanan darah tinggi, glukoma (masalah saraf optik mata) dan katarak.

Memburukkan keadaan, sebahagian juruoptik di kedai cermin mata tidak mempunyai tauliah pendidikan dalam bidang optometri tetapi sekadar mendapatkan sijil dikenali sebagai Fellow of the Association of Dispensing Opticians (Fado) dari luar negara dengan bayaran tertentu.

Dekan Fakulti Optometri Kolej Universiti Teknologi Antarabangsa Twintech (Twintech), Dr Nasuha Saabin berkata, jika mengikut etika, sijil Fado hanya melayakkan mereka memotong gelas membuat cermin mata saja bukan menjalankan pemeriksaan mata menggunakan sebarang peralatan termasuk menentukan tahap kekuatan kanta cermin mata.

“Jika mata sihat dan hanya mengalami masalah rabun tidak mengapa, namun jika penglihatan itu kabur disebabkan penyakit yang masih di peringkat awal maka ia membawa kesan buruk dalam jangka panjang.

“Disebabkan penglihatan tidak jelas pesakit hanya pergi membuat cermin mata manakala juru optik yang bertugas hanya menyiapkan cermin mata kerana mereka tidak tahu langkah yang perlu diambil untuk pemeriksaan kesihatan mata,” katanya. Dr Nasuha berkata, pesakit biasanya hanya menyedari penglihatannya terjejas akibat penyakit apabila keadaan semakin parah.

“Saya tidak tahu bagaimana proses sebenar mendapatkan Fado, mungkin mereka membayar untuk menjalani latihan, tetapi ia lebih kepada membuat cermin mata bukan menjalankan pemeriksaan penuh terhadap kesihatan mata yang berkait rapat dengan keadaan tubuh badan,” katanya ketika ditemui Harian Metro, baru-baru ini.

Beliau berkata, sudah sampai masanya kerajaan meneliti semula Akta Optik 1991 yang membenarkan juru optik yang tidak mempunyai latar belakang bidang optometri memberikan preskripsi cermin mata atau kanta sentuh.

“Perkara ini sudah lama berlarutan, sepatutnya pesakit mata perlu bertemu ahli optometri terlebih dulu, pakar optik itu kemudiannya akan mencadangkan kepada pesakit sama ada merujuk kepada pakar oftamologi yang terbabit dengan pembedahan mata atau sekadar perlu membuat cermin mata berdasarkan keputusan pemeriksaan yang dijalankan.

“Bagaimanapun perkara ini tidak berlaku, bukan saja di Malaysia tetapi banyak negara lain. Apabila penglihatan kian kabur kebiasaannya mereka terus membuat cermin mata sedangkan banyak sebab menjadi punca masalah itu,” katanya. Menurutnya, hanya terdapat 700 optometri di Malaysia berdasarkan kadar penduduk, negara memerlukan sekurang-kurang 3,000 optometri.

“Peluang kerjaya dalam bidang ini amat meluas tetapi disebabkan faktor tertentu tidak ramai anggota masyarakat yang mahu merujuk kepada mereka terlebih dulu jika menghadapi masalah penglihatan terutama rabun,” katanya.

Source : http://praya.hmetro.com.my/myMetro/articles/Bolehjadibuta/Article/index_html

OMG!! WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!~~

This was the first reaction in my mind when i read about this article on Malaysiakini. Apparently, without even a hint to the media or the general public at large, 6000 genetically modified mosquitoes was released at an inhabited site in Pahang. This hallmark scientific trial is suppose to be an experiment to combat dengue fever.

Below are excerpt from the Malaysiakini article

The Institute of Medical Research (IMR), which was tasked with carrying out the trial, said the experiment was conducted on Dec 21 to "study the dispersal and longevity of these mosquitoes in the field".

"The experiment was successfully concluded on January 5, 2011," the institute said in a statement today, adding that no further releases are planned until the trial results are analysed.

The insects in the experiment have been engineered so that their offspring quickly die, curbing the growth of the population in a technique researchers hope could eventually eradicate the dengue mosquito altogether.

Females of the Aedes species are responsible for spreading dengue, a deadly disease which killed at least 134 people last year in Malaysia alone.

Seriously speaking, are the government out of their minds?? Did hair suddenly grow out of their balls one day that they did not even try to implicate the ecological disaster that may happen from such an uncontrolled environment? I can more or less understand if they did this experiment in a huge controlled greenhouse like environment but NO, the iron ball scientist thought it would be safe to release this genetically modified, potentially mutating "insects" in an inhabited site. HELLOOO!!! MOZZIES CAN FLY LAH!!~~

Maybe its just me seeing too much horror movie but for the mosquito mutate and creating even more resistant mosquito may be possible right?

Maybe later in the years we will hear people falling sick in Pahang due to some mystery fever or flu. But by then it may just be the beginning of the end............


P.S I may have exaggerated a bit but GM animals be it insect or not should be handled with care. There is no guarantee of what the consequence this action may do. Only time will tell.

Abused Dog Video on Facebook

I was gobsmacked and totally restless today after watching a video on facebook on a dog being abused. The video shows a man trying to teach the toy poodle how to stand on 2 legs and bashing him continuously for not doing it right. There were even instances in which the guy threw the dog across the room. The girl that was filming the whole thing did nothing to stop her boyfriend.

At the moment, there seem to be a witch hunt for the guy in the video. Many FB'er's are frantically trying to identify the abuser and it seems that they may have found the culprit based on clues from the video. For certain, the culprit is from Malaysia.

I hope the authorities finds out about this and do something.

However, i am doubtful if the authorities would do anything in regards to dog abuse.

You can see the video here

Please be warned that this are really disturbing scenes in my opinion.

Inspiration

I am sitting in my office right now inspired by a piece of article i read on Malaysiakini.

I am sure many of you like me are sick and tired reading political bigamy that is spewed out by mainstream as well as alternative media nowadays from both the political divide. There is just too much hate, all talk and no tangible work being done. However from time to time, we do see service being done above politics and this article is definitely one of them.

If every politician irregardless of their alignment are like this then we would all be living in a better country.

Below are a cut and paste of the article i just read.

A BN vote bank is aided by Pakatan

Terence Netto
Jan 22, 11
10:59am

The Temiar of Sungai Siput have long been a reliable vote bank for the BN, something like 9,000 of them domiciled on the banks of tributaries of the Sungai Perak that crisscross the constituency, giving the ruling coalition 99 percent of the vote in the general election of 1999, 96 percent in 2004, and 90 percent in 2008.

In all that time, the recipient of this largesse, MIC's S Samy Vellu, confined reciprocation to the giving out of presents to headmen while the Orang Asli Department (JHEOA) periodically supplemented the trickle with handouts.

Apparently, from whom a lot is given little is required.

A rather bleak situation, one might say, to a prospective MP trying to break the cycle of servitude in which the Temiar are immured.

But Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj of the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), since 1999 a rival claimant to S Samy Vellu for the allegiance of Sungai Siput's voters, decided that even if naught is to be had for service to the Temiar by an opposition politician, service must still be rendered.

Thus when the 400 Temiar of some 50 households in Kampong Perje in Pos Legap needed money in 2009 to buy new cables to secure a rickety bridge over the Sungai Pelus, used by them to ferry the latex they tapped from rubber trees off the banks, they approached their newly elected MP.

“We decided that because their conditions were wretched, their needs overrode other considerations such as their solid support for the BN,” said Jeyakumar, who was elected in March 2008 on a wave for the opposition that year.

“Also, representatives of Kampong Perje continued to attend meetings we held to discuss Orang Asli needs even after the fall of the Pakatan state government in February 2009,” he said. “Reps from other Orang Asli villages kept away out of fear,” he added.

Popularly known as 'Dr Kumar', the PSM activist had made forays into Orang Asli villages deep in the interior of Sungai Siput even when he was not their elected MP prior to 2008, to see what could done for them.

“They are a terribly marginalised group and they needed all the help they can get,” he rationalized.

So when Pos Legap's Temiar wanted new cables for a dilapidated bridge, Dr Kumar and his crew of PSM stalwarts in Sungai Siput decided that it would be better to build a new bridge a kilometer away from the site of the old one.

“The old one was too rickety,” he said. “There was little point in shoring it up with new cables.”

But where to get the money for the new bridge, given that opposition MPs are deprived by the federal government of constituency allocations rendered to the tune of RM2 million a year to BN legislators?

PAS leader steps in to help

Dr Kumar, who was elected on a PKR ticket because PSM were no yet a registered political party in March 2008, asked help from his Pakatan Rakyat cohort in Sungai Siput.

The PAS leader in the constituency, Ahmad Mazlan Othman, a retired army engineer who had been a candidate for the Lintang state seat in the 1999 and 2004 elections, was instrumental in getting his party to contribute RM5,000 to the overall cost of the new bridge which was estimated at RM70,000.

The rest of the budget was raised from the MP allowances for Dr Kumar (RM35,000), from sundry friends of his (RM20,000) and from two Catholic groups (RM10,000).

In short, the money for the new bridge came out of a Pakatan-like collaborative effort by assorted groups. From whom much is deprived, not a little can be got.

Construction of the bridge, which was supervised at every stage by Ahmad Mazlan, began in August 2009.

A squad of PAS volunteers helped out at every stage of the construction. PSM activists M Sukumaran, M Augustine, S Nagentiran and Alexis Paulraj did turns helping out with the technical and other inputs.

Jointly and severally, this motley crew pooled their slender resources which Ahmad, with his professional expertise, ably marshaled to bring the bridge to near completion.

“There is only a little more work left to be finished,” said Dr Kumar, “which Ahmad says would be completed this weekend or over the next.”

There will be no opening ceremony for this bridge that a Pakatan-like 'gotong royong' has almost brought to pass for the Temiar of Pos Legap and no plaques to honour the selfless band involved in its conception and construction.

Whether the bridge would shift the Temiar's voting allegiance is a question of some irrelevance to Dr Kumar.

“The wretched must inherit the earth,” said Dr Kumar in typically socialistic, Franz Fanon-like, style.




(source : Malaysiakini)

Malaysia Today : Optometry Now

I have been asked many question about the eyecare industry and how it would shape up in Malaysia in the next 5-10 years.

Most common question by most aspiring eye care professionals would be :-

Should I study to become an Optometrist or an Optician??


If you are unsure what is an Optometrist compared to an Optician, read here

My answer would be take your Optometry course now and forget about the latter.


My reason is based mainly on a 3 factors :-

1) There is currently 6 (if i am still correct) Universities offering Optometry course in Malaysia. That means in the next 2-4 years, we would be churning out 200-300 optometrist per year. In the next 5-10 years numbers of Optometrist may well be at par with number of registered Opticians if not more.

2) As you know, the government are now discouraging the public to take up medicine that have been experiencing a glut in recent years. At the moment, the ratio of Houseman to Tutors are way off the charts resulting in the fear that the profession is suffering from a deterioration in quality. This will inevitably cause prospective student to look at other health related fields in Malaysia and Optometry is definitely up there. This may result in more universities offering Optometry courses and resulting in more Optometrist in the general market.

3) There is now a better awareness among the public between what is an Optometrist as compared with an Optician. This awareness will only increase as the years go by.

This 3 factors alone will propel Optometrist as the main eye care practitioner in the Optical Industry.

This in 7-10 years would result in the government to amend the Optical Act to make it compulsory for every optical outlet to have a registered Optometrist (like in Pharmacist to a Pharmacy). Many people are skeptic when i tell them this but i really beg to differ.

Furthermore, even before the act is amended, public awareness on the role of Optometrist as compared to an Optician is already on the rise. Not too long from now, i am sure most consumer may even insist that they have their eyes refracted by an Optometrist rather then an Optician.

This will also see the government tighten the already existing legislature on contact lens sales. At the moment all optical outlet are selling contact lens but the Optical Act states that only Optician with Pink Form and Registered Optometrist can dispense them to the general public. This may constitute to less then 50% (25% is my gut feeling if you include rural areas) of the optical outlets out there. An alarming figure indeed. As more Optometrist come out in the open market, pressure will be on the relevant department to enforce the already existing legislature.

For Opticians that have already been practicing in this industry, there will be challenging days ahead with the slowly but surely revolution of the industry. They will eventually have to work with Optometrist to ensure there is a more comprehensive approach in eye health care (if not also for their own livelihood). In UK, Optometrist are normally confined to their sight test room and sales are done by Opticians. This may be a good way forward.

One thing for sure, the change is coming and it is for the betterment of not just the industry which at the moment are degraded into somewhat a "pasar malam" culture but also to the consumer at large.