OPTA
8.-10.4. 2022

The Brno meeting of the optics, optometry and ophthalmology sector completed its 20 years of existence by the anniversary of this event and representatives of the professional associations of Czech and Slovak Republic arrived congratulate. A special guest of the trade fair opening, economist Vladimír Pikora delivered a lecture on the development of the Czech economy in 2014.

"It is important to be able to meet and communicate with each other. That is what OPTA is for and it is good that it exists," said the President of the Association of Czech Opticians and Optometrists Beno Blachut in his speech. He pointed out that there are 1,027 active optometrists in the Czech Republic now – university-educated professionals who are able to provide the first phase examinations with equal qualification as ophthalmologists, while being able to devote more time to clients because they are not as pressured by performances reported to insurance companies. Optometry is taught at three universities in the Czech Republic today, each year they produce approximately one hundred graduates, including optometrists from Slovakia, where optometry education is not yet available. As Beno Blachut further stated, there are 1520 opticians establishments in the Czech Republic today, where approximately 3500 optometrists take care of the quality of Czech population’s vision. In this context, he warned about unreasonable thriftiness of consumers, because sight is a very sensitive sense and can be damaged easily. "We should overcome the current stage where our customers are particularly interested in the price and focus on the offers just using absurdly presented discounts that are attacking their basic instincts. Optician and optometrist is a profession that cares about improving the quality of life, but one certainly will not achieve the quality of vision and quality service through discounts," he emphasized.

Greetings of the Optical Union of Slovakia were conveyed by its president Pavel Moravec, who emphasized the internationality of the OPTA fair and its significance for Slovak opticians. The President of the Czech Contactological Society Jiří Michálek wished the trade fair another successful twenty years and at the same time warned against buying optical goods on the internet because quality vision care can not do without the services of qualified specialists: "OPTA with its twenty years of existence is quite irreplaceable among optical events. I would like us to continue meeting, because health is irreplaceable in people’s lives and health of our eyes is what we can do something for."

The opening of the fair was an opportunity for the announcement of four winners of the best exhibits competition, Top Opta 2014. The guest of the opening ceremony Vladimír Pikora, chief economist at Next Finance, delivered a lecture focused primarily on the Czech economy in 2014.