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Student Optometrist Hannah Mohammed doing an OCT on Patient (Sean Bridgelal, optometry student)
But like all programme coordinators, Dr. Sharma has to think of the school’s sustainability as well as the quality of its output. As the university budget contracts, he’s thinking about longevity. The demand for optometrists in Caribbean islands should certainly drive recruitment. Some of our smaller Caribbean neighbours, Dr. Sharma says, don’t have any certified optometrists at all. Eye tests and lens-fitting are done by unqualified practitioners or visitors from the US who won’t be around for follow-up. “So we are trying to attract students from the islands now, to come to us to do the course,” he says. “And trying to attract governments to send at least one student a year, so they can build capacity for themselves.” The department’s ideal ratio would be 15 or 16 local students to 10 from the rest of the Caribbean. They’re being lured to a potentially lucrative career. Dr. Sharma says it’s the third highest paid in the medical field “without having the on-call label stuck on you.” STAN MAY - JUNE 2016
Charis-Ann Ricketts “kind of just ended up” studying Optometry, because it’s her mother’s profession and she’s been visiting the optometrist since she was eight. “Only when I actually reached the programme, after the first year we started doing things that were related to it, then I realized, “Oh yes, I actually do like this.’ It actually wasn’t that much of my own incentive that I ended up in it, but I stayed because I grew to love it.” A broader geographical alliance could also keep the school growing. Dr. Sharma says that Central and South Americans who have visited for symposia have expressed interest in “sending their students to be upgraded to our international standard.” If the language barrier can be overcome, it would mean another income stream. But getting and keeping academic staff remains an obstacle. Dr. Sharma wants to retire, so does Dr. Bohringer. Dr. John Randall is on his way out the door after five years in Trinidad. “What we want to do is
get our grads to come back and get involved in lecturing and research,” says Dr. Sharma. “We’ve spoken to them—there are one or two helping us here, part-time. The university is willing to pay for them to do their post-grad studies, as long as you’re going to come back and work with us here. That is where we’ll get our future lecturers from.” In the meantime there are plans for refresher courses for established optometrists and advanced training in optometric specialties. But in all that is envisioned, students are reminded of their foremost responsibility—improving their patients’ eyesight. “They are told, ‘You are being trained to make a difference in society. You will get rich one day, but don’t expect to just leave here, go there and become rich suddenly. It will happen, but you have to build a name, build a service, and make sure you behave yourself in public.’”