An optometrist who failed to inform employers he hadn’t tested eyes for over 10 years has been found guilty of professional misconduct.

 The Irish Independent reported that Optometrist, Nagesh Puranik, was also found guilty of professional misconduct by a fitness to practise inquiry of CORU – the regulatory body of health and social care professionals – for reviewing images of the retina of clients when he had failed to inform his employers that he required training to assess such images.

In addition, the CORU fitness to practise committee found 35 allegations of poor professional performance against Mr Puranik proven.

The allegations related to his treatment of over 30 clients while he worked at Specsavers branches in Mallow and Midleton between January 21 and February 8, 2022.

Mr Puranik, an Indian national, joined Specsavers at the start of last year but resigned on February 16, 2022 after less than a month in the job.

The committee’s chairperson, Geraldine Feeney, said the optometrist has submitted a CV to Ian and Ciara McCallum, the owners and directors of the two Specsavers branches, in which he claimed his previous job was in 2020.  However, Ms Feeney said Mr Puranik subsequently admitted in February 2022 that he had not tested eyes in the previous decade.

It was reported that in one case, the optometrist failed to identify macular holes in both eyes of an elderly client in the Mallow outlet which should have warranted immediate referral to hospital.

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