Practitioners
CEO's Articles
CEO Article 18/04/2012
I
remember in vague detail my grandmother relating to me a
story of a lion that was going through a bout of starvation
due to the pleins, once filled with herds of prey now lying
empty. This was not a sudden occurrence. There were small
telltale signs of rivers drying up, grass becoming sparse
and trees for shade standing bare. This great beast failed
to see these signs, and the time between meals was
extending, the menu less appetising and the portions reduced
to lizard size. After one long day of fruitless hunting, this master walks back into its cave to find a fully grown and seemingly well fed rabbit snoozing in his shade and he immediately pounces on it. The rabbit feeling this tight grip then says, amidst the thundering roar; “WAIT, the cave roof is falling in, you are bigger and stronger, balance the roof whilst I go and get some wood to prop it up”. Fearing for his life, he lets go of the rabbit, extends his once powerful arms in haste to hold on to the roof. The rabbit runs off into the fields never to return again. Only the fatiguing arms tell the lion after a while that he has been taken for ride. An opportunity was squandered because he failed once again to read his situation correctly.
I am reminded of ourselves in relating this old granny’s tale. We were once this great profession, with members thriving in great abundance of opportunities and reward. We blossomed but failed to take note of signs of impending changes in the horizon. We failed to see the rivers running low, the thinning of the herds and increasingly sparse growth of the grass. Why look at the grass when we are meat eaters? I am fearful that we are heading for a repeat of this calamity, unless we can read the signs presenting to us now. [Read more]
CEO Article 11/04/2012
Dear Members
The election of our new board of directors took place recently and announcements were made of the new leadership in optometry. For a person sitting in an administrative duty such as mine, the pre and post election periods render you partly incapable in thought and action. The pre-election period is characterised by a stalemate for the outgoing board where decisions are deferred for the new board to take. This is necessary since it is the new board that will have to see out the consequences of those decisions and thus only fair to have their inputs in the decision making process.
The post-election period is characterised by updating the new board on past decisions and progress on current matters. This is in itself a daunting task, which cannot be achieved in a day or two. Again, there is a need to have all board members on par with all the issues prior to taking new decisions on the path ahead. It is this temporary impasse that sets administrative processes back to some extent despite the support in principle of decisions taken previously.
[Read more]
CEO Article 15/03/2012
The past few weeks have seen us constrained very seriously by our means of communication. I was almost becoming a technician myself, discussing bandwidths, 3G and the pros and cons of Wi-fi communication. The office is 90% up and running again but we still have unacceptable periods of downtime on a frequent basis. We however have better backup systems and we should be running full steam ahead shortly.
There are three nominees who pulled out of the election process. I wish to inform members that these members were prepared to stand for elections in the event that there were too few candidates standing. In the light of more than the expected number of nominees, the three candidates preferred to stand down for no other reason other than the one advanced above. I trust that this explanation is sufficient to allay concerns that members may have had about these withdrawals.
Many optometrists we contact frequently ask what the benefit of belonging to the SAOA is. To shed light on this matter, allow me to explain that our benefit structure is divided into personal benefits, professional benefits and industry benefits. Whilst this communication may be too brief to outline all three, I will look at the first group of benefits which are the personal benefits which are so numerous that I might run out of writing space. [Read more]
CEO Article 22/02/2012
Muted participation in SAOA activities.
The South African Optometric Association is once again going through a period of change in leadership by electing a new board this coming March. Naturally, this process is coupled to uncertainties about the possible discord in vision and priorities between the outgoing and incoming boards. The re-establishment of relationships between members of the board and between the board and the administration all result in some loss of momentum despite the effort to conclude pending matters successfully.
The apathy of many of our members became evident with the start of this election process. Eleven nomination forms were received out a total bulk e-mail comprising 1698 members. The average total number of members has increased by about 102 members compared to last year. The number of enquiries received for membership is also increasing however; the level of participation in the affairs and processes of the association does not match this perceived interest. In monitoring the website visits we note that the number of login visits is particularly low when compared to the total membership. I am hopeful that through our association with Alcon and MP Consulting, we can improve the offerings on the website including free CPD activities [Read more]
CEO Article 15/02/2012
Competition Commissions Rulings
My dearest colleagues within and outside of the SAOA, I have come to learn that our readership is steadily increasing for which I am pleased. I am also especially pleased because I am getting feedback and debates from esteemed members on the profession on issues raised in the articles. These debates are a resource for new ideas, especially when they destabilize the status quo, and channel our thinking into uncharted territories. My special thanks for their inputs and different views.
Please allow me to beg your indulgence in this article because I expect it to break the boundaries of one page which I have set in the past articles. I have never understood legal jargon. That limitation is worse if legally qualified persons mean what they did not say or say what they do not mean whereafter it means another thing which may be different or not different to what was written or verbalized. I have engaged with explanations from different legal experts, as well as the legal division of the HPCSA. [Read more]
CEO Article 03/02/2012
Let me start this discussion by apologizing sincerely for the extended downtime of our website these past few days
to a week. This hampered our ability to send out bulk e-mails or sms to warn you of our communication paralysis.
With great difficulty and manoeuvring we placed a message to this effect on the website notice board which I trust
you took note of.
We are humbled by the number of members who are renewing and taking up membership of the Association in 2012. Whilst we reconcile the numbers to substantiate this claim, we have a sense of heightened activity compared to previous years. Whilst some resignations still come in, they seem to be more of run of the mill reasons like maternity leave, leaving the profession, emigration etc. [Read more]
CEO Article 26/01/2012
I attended a meeting with the Competitions Commission to address matters relating to a community optometry model that would target the majority of those not covered or inadequately covered by medical aid or have no decent income to afford our services.
During this period prior to this, I was led to believe that because of the impending National Health Insurance Scheme, the health professions are heading for even greater regulation. The Department of Health itself confirmed in a meeting with the Association, that they see no room or role to play in the NHI structure for the laisser-faire free market system because health care is not a commodity but a basic right. It was a shocking discovery that the left hand knows not what the right hand is doing. The Competition Commission treats health care like any other market commodity against the principles of the primary health care approach. This approach, seeks to do away with the fee for service model, which reduces access and drives up the cost of health care. [Read more]
CEO Article 19/01/2012
Let me begin by wishing you a belated happy new year to the entire SAOA membership. I trust that we will begin this year with vigour as we renew our subscriptions. We will support the fund raising efforts by entering the membership campaign competition as well as take part in all the activities of the association throughout the year.
On the 6th of January 2012, the CEO of the South African Dental Association (Maretha Smit) warned that many dental practices are going bankrupt; fewer people enter the profession whilst the numbers of those migrating continues to increase steadily. Of note is the significant reduction from 8.4% of dentistry payouts in the late nineties to 2.2% in 2011. The Minister of Health also raised concerns about the power of scheme administrators and their role in the cost structure of private health care. [Read more]
CEO Article 09/12/2011
Let me apologize for the delay in sending out this communication to members. I was in meetings from Monday to Wednesday this week which consumed what is normally the preparation time for the newsletter and article. Add to that the electricity blackout of this past Monday and Thursday in our area of Midrand and our year end hurdles are complete. [Read more]
CEO Article 30/11/2011
The Special General Meeting of the 6th of December 2011 is an important milestone in the history of the South African Optometric Association. This meeting seeks to amend the constitution to address imbalances and manifestations of a past social order that sought to advantage one section of the population at the expense of others. Any discussion on race is always unwelcome, it is unsettling and divisive, apportioning blame partly on the basis of coincident phenotypes and in part, on the basis of deliberate socio-political institutions rather than on the commission of the individuals concerned. [Read more]
CEO Article 23/11/2011
I have been to various meetings with optometrists in parts of the country. Specifically, I was at meetings in Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, and most recently in Durban. All the optometrists present spoke one language, said the same things, in the same tone, sequence and emotion irrespective of gender, culture or po pulation group. I am privileged to witness this unity in thought and purpose. It lends the organization a sense of direction. [Read more]
CEO Article 16/11/2011
The SAOA will be holding a Special General Meeting on the sixth of December in Johannesburg in terms of the notice that you should have received by now. In the past, general meetings of members did not reflect the national character of the association in their attendance. One of our key challenges was the centralization of most decision making in the directorate and administration of the SAOA. Members were reduced to spectators in a game they should have been playing. This is a fundamental organizational weakness which requires our most urgent attention. [Read more]
CEO Article 09/11/2011
One of our biggest challenges as a profession and as individual optometrists is our confinement by intent and design to an undergraduate clinical qualification. Even as we obtain post-graduate optometry qualifications, they are not very suited to the clinical setting which most members prefer. So, instead of creating order by educational merit that stratifies members into a professional hierarchy and hence optometric order, we depend on social and cultural measures for an optometry governance framework based on common law principles, just like others not in... [Read more]
CEO Article 03/11/2011
A communication platform such as this one is a tool that must be used with circumspect and sensitivity. It is even more important in a situation as delicate and fragile as in the optometry community today. This heightened sensitivity to differences can be a stimulus for further divisions and discord or it can be a catalyst towards greater coherence and unity. I choose the latter option and therefore take this opportunity and request you to join me in wishing our members from the Islamic faith well during the coming Festival of Sacrifice (Eid ul-Adha). [Read more]
CEO Article 27/10/2011
It is never too late to say Happy Diwali to our member community. I hope that the spirit of these immediate past celebrations will permeate the SAOA into 2012 and I am sure that the celebrations capture what we most desperately need in our organization today; goodness always prevails.
At the risk of seeming impoliteness, pardon me for likening the SAOA to a small boy, who sleeps in Grandma’s bed in old pyjamas he dislikes. Every morning he wakes up to the embarrassment of being shown the wet spot where he was sleeping; “Look at what you did; Again?” Every move, no matter how well executed by the small boy during the day is potentially tainted by this unfortunate nocturnal mishap. A nasty, confidence-denting reminder can crop up despite all gallant performances during the day. In defence, the small boy responds to Grandma’s accusation; "No, I didn’t do it, you did." No amount of scolding, spanking or shaming can dry up the bed in the nights gone by. [Read more]
CEO Article 20/10/2011
My Fellow Members, allow me to send this belated communication and thank everyone that sent me kind words of congratulations via telephone, sms and e-mail upon my appointment to the SAOA. I also thank those who might not have said anything but still took the time to reflect on it and maybe thought "Are you crazy? Are you really joining that Association?"
I am taking office at a time of major crosswinds along the healthcare path in South Africa. There are major potholes in the chosen route of optometry in particular. I am first to admit that my passionately held view of a uniform profession is slowly escaping my grip but I remain steadfast on professional unity. I concede that in my few weeks in office, I have sensed the different shades of optometry. [Read more]
