­­­Beginning next year, the Allied Health Professions Council (AHPC) will begin the registration of every single service provider of allied health in nature, including the services of optometry.

Allied health professions are professions that provide diagnostic and therapeutic services to patients.

Per the Act of Parliament that established the AHPC (Act 857, 2013), a total of 18 professions fall within the allied professions, which include medical and laboratory sciences, optometry, radiography, medical physics, physiotherapy, disease control and environmental health, among others.

The Registrar, AHPC, Dr Shirazu Issahaku, said, “We have written letters to the service providers ahead of the commencement of the exercise”.

“From 2026, you will need to register with the council if you want to render any service of allied health in nature to any Ghanaian across the country”, he stressed.

Dr Issahaku disclosed this at the 13th annual general meeting (AGM) and scientific session of the Ghana Optometric Association (GOA) held in Kumasi last Friday, October 17, 2025.

The occasion saw the induction of 94 newly trained optometrists into the association

He stated that the law that established the council mandates it to register all allied health service providers, stressing, “unfortunately, we have not been doing that, but starting next year, we will prioritise and carry out such an important exercise”.

Allied Health College

He announced that an amount of GH¢1.2million out of the council’s budget had been earmarked as seed money for the establishment of the Allied Health College, akin to the nursing and midwifery college and the pharmacy college.

“We need to have such a college where we can train professionals to become specialists and consultants within the field of allied health”, he pointed out and further assured the association that the council would protect “your training and dignity as optometrists”.

Importance

Delivering the keynote address, a Lecturer at the Department of Ophthalmic Science at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Dr Carl Halladay Abraham, said the issue of low vision rehabilitation was important and must be an essential part of the nation’s resetting agenda.

He highlighted the lack of data for persons receiving low vision care and a specific policy for low vision care and rehabilitation in the country, and therefore called for measures towards tackling it.

He called for the strengthening of referral networks between hospitals, optometry clinics and community-based rehabilitation as well as embedding low vision services within primary health care and social protection frameworks, among others.

Focus

The Ashanti Regional Ophthalmologist, Dr Kwadwo Amoah, bemoaned the lack of priority in low vision and rehabilitation as the focus had always been on the maintenance of eye health and interventions to restore sight.

Even with that, he said it had been on the wings of donor support championed by external partners, stressing, “over the years, local contribution in this regard has been very minimal”.

The President, Ghana Optometric Association, Prof. Samuel Bert Boadi-Kusi, indicated that optometrists play a vital role in the delivery of eye care services in the nation, particularly within the private sector.

He said: “Today, optometric practices are spread across the country, significantly improving access to quality eye care”.

He commended the faculty at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) for working hard to see to the elevation of the Department of Optometry to a School of Optometry and Vision Science, coupled with the introduction of master’s and doctoral programmes.