‘I(nnovation) for an eye, prevents the whole world from becoming blind'
The lens I am going to use today, will throw some light on this adage. Reading about the article on self-adjustable eyeglasses aiming to address vision problems helped me recollect from my experience, a particular company transforming the global ophthalmology landscape through frugal & low cost biomedical innovations.
According to the WHO, medical device use is concentrated in high-income nations, with just 13% of the global population accounting for 76% of global medical device use. This is in consonance with the challenges faced by the healthcare industry in developing nations, which are still plagued with issues such as accessibility owing to lack of healthcare infrastructure and medical resources. In response to this dire need, the healthcare innovation ecosystem has suddenly witnessed considerable activity from multiple medical technology companies & startups. Surprisingly, a leapfrog effect is observed among developing nations, as their less entrenched systems have become fertile grounds for accelerating the pace of innovations. It has been witnessed that whenever urgent healthcare needs prevail in less regulated environments, disruptive innovations can root more quickly. Particularly notable are the product developments in the Ophthalmology screening & diagnostic space, which have been successful in creating impact amongst the underserved patient communities in India & other developing nations.
Of the 37 million blind individuals globally, more than 40 percent of them are from India, and 75 percent of these cases are considered to have been avoidable. Forus Health, a Bangalore-based medical device startup is aiming to combat blindness through an all-in-one screening tool. Their 3nethra device is designed to take a photograph of the eye and, from that image, to detect the five major ailments that lead to 90 percent of blindness: diabetic retinopathy, cataracts, glaucoma, cornea problems, and refractive errors. It is a low cost,rugged portable eye screening device with a turn around time of less than 5 minutes and is designed for operation by a minimally trained technician. Traditionally approximately 7 percent of Indians at various stages of blindness have been screened and treated, due to paucity of requisite infrastructure and number of ophthalmologists. This problem is further exacerbated by the fact that the current pool of 12,000 ophthalmologists have to commit more time for eye-surgeries than routine screening procedures. The device has thus gained acceptance amongst the Indian ophthalmic community and is spreading its footprint globally with over 220 installations across 14 countries. Forus aims to address the problem of affordable eye testing for a third of the world's population and has managed to screen 600,000 eyes till date. The device also has integrational capabilities with a cloud hosted telemedicine application, thus offering a complete eye care platform. Its telemedicine capabilities will enable ophthalmologists to offer remote diagnosis to rural patients, thereby bridging the accessibility divide for the majority of the populace. The low cost of the device is also a major determinant for its potential scalability; while most non-mydriatic cameras cost at least $28,000, 3nethra costs just over $8,000 in India. Thus, such product innovations are expected to set the tone for more low-cost medical device endeavours aiming to serve the last mile of individuals in ingenious ways.
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Hi Vikram,
ReplyDeleteHaving worked in the optical industry in the States previously, I found this really interesting, particularly the fact that the device in question has cloud capabilities. I interviewed with a company that offers a smartphone-based refractor, and they said that they really struggled to get any EHR firms to agree to partner. It would be great to sit down and chat about medical devices at some point. I'd love to learn more about your background.