During the examination of the bill for growth, activity and equal economic opportunities, known as “Macron bill”, by the Senate, the amendment which makes the issuance of glasses with corrective lenses subject to l The existence of a valid medical prescription was adopted.
If this amendment receives the approval of the deputies at 2nd reading in the National Assembly, it will no longer be necessary to have a prescription to be issued corrective lenses. For its author, Senator Dominique Estrosi-Sassone, France could not be “the only country in the European Union to refuse a pair of glasses to a Chinese or American customer who has broken his”. She also wished to reassure ophthalmologists by specifying that “for 70 years, a period during which this obligation was not necessary, patients continued to consult ophthalmologists”.
But the latter are not happy. In a press release, the National Union of Ophthalmologists of France (Snof) said it was devastated by the inconsistency of the senators: “The suppression of the passage by the ophthalmologist is a disaster for eye prevention, especially in children! It is The market’s victory over Health By deleting this paragraph, the senators are paving the way for opticians to prescribe and sell glasses to children under 16 without the latter having ever seen a doctor. In doing so, they call into question a public health policy based, for decades, on the screening and health prevention of eye diseases, in particular among the youngest “.
Dr. Thierry Bour, President of the National Union of Ophthalmologists of France (SNOF), concludes “We are open to the development of the device for renewing glasses for cases of proven emergency but do not accept that the screening of any the population is sacrificed for it. “
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