With upwards of 98 million citizens expected to be struggling with diabetes by 2030, India has one of the largest diabetic populations of any country in the world.
To help address the consequences of diabetes in India, the US-based Sankara Eye Foundation (SEF) is teaming up with Singapore-based Leben Care to deploy a comprehensive, AI-powered retina risk assessment software-as-a-service platform across the country.
Powered by Intel technology and using deep learning to identify retinal conditions in a short span of time with the accuracy level of human doctors, Netra.AI can accurately identify diabetic retinopathy (DR) and greatly reduce the screening burden on vitreoretinal surgeons, say the two organizations.
“The use of AI to improve disease detection and prevention is a critical step for the healthcare industry and a giant leap for humankind,” noted Prakash Mallya, Vice President and Managing Director of Sales, Marketing and Communications Group, Intel India, in a statement. “India has one of the largest diabetic populations in the world and diabetic retinopathy is the major cause for vision loss and blindness in persons of working age. With Netra.AI, Sankara Eye Foundation and Leben Care have leveraged the power of Intel Xeon Scalable processors and built-in Intel Deep Learning (DL) Boost to accurately detect DR and enable timely treatment to effectively combat avoidable vision impairment and blindness in diabetic patients.”
DR is a leading cause of blindness and vision loss in adults, and while shows that early detection and treatment is critical to stopping the damage, the lack of trained retinal specialists in India — especially in remote, rural regions — limits effective screening of asymptomatic patients. This results in patients presenting late with advanced diabetic eye disease.
Netra.AI analyzes images from portable, technician-operated fundus camera devices, which photograph the rear of the eye. The solution uses cutting-edge AI algorithms, developed in collaboration with leading retina experts, to help detect DR stage and annotating lesions based on pixel density in the fundus images. The solution can be expanded to other retinal conditions and glaucoma, helping to reduce the screening burden on healthcare specialists and focus key resources on patients who need immediate care and intervention.
“Technology and AI are democratizing healthcare access, especially in screening for ailments,” said Dr Kaushik Murali, President of Medical Administration, Quality & Education, Sankara Eye Foundation India. “Our team at Sankara Eye Foundation has focused on our vision to eliminate needless blindness from India. The current solution . . . is an example of how like-minded collaborators can create meaningful and impactful solutions for various challenges that face humanity.”
According to the foundation, SEF Hospitals and Partner Hospitals will perform 1 million eye surgeries annually by the year 2030.