IIT-Madras develops affordable eye screening technology

CHENNAI: Indian Institute of Technology Madras ( IIT-M) has developed a computing technology which would help eye doctors screen patients faster and provide them immediate diagnostic solutions.

The software ' Eye PAC' has been developed by Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre ( HTIC), a unit of the Research and Development wing of the institution.

The technology would extract clear information from eyes and in turn help screen a large number of patients and send only the needy ones for further treatment.

Earlier, patients had to spend almost half a day in hospital for screening but with Eye PAC only a five minute screening is required, HTIC head Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam said.

The new technology could be used to create screening and diagnostic solutions in patients. "Over 80 per cent of cases of blindness in our country are preventable, if only there was no lack of qualified ophthalmologists," he said.

The technology would fill the gap of shortage of ophthalmologists in the country, he said.

'3nethra', which is a device by Bangalore-based med-tech firm Forus Health and supported by 'Eye PAC', has been installed in many locations across 10 countries such as India, China, France, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mauritius and Somalia, he said.

HTIC is a joint collaboration of IIT Madras and the Department of Biotechnology of Government of India.