Available solutions are too expensive, bulky, and manual, to integrate an eye screening service outside of the eye hospitals. PCPs, like diabetes clinics, do not have access to specialised retinal cameras to complement their diabetes consult with an eye exam, nor do they have enough ophthalmologists to perform and interpret the exam. Thus, the burden of diabetes-induced blindness is still beyond the control of the professionals who provide disease management in primary healthcare centres, as DR is a silent progression disease, and there is a lack of screening services. Only 10-15% of the world's diabetes population has access to the existing screening programs. Overall, PCPs earned the loyalty of diabetes patients (particularly in rural areas) due to their regular interaction and close presence, but are not able to provide any form of diabetes-associated blindness prevention due to a lack of affordable, user-friendly, and accurate solutions to screen and diagnose DR.
Our camera was developed to be a turning point for DR screening, especially in LMICs, by relieving the major pains Oivi’s active end-users face, as it is the first solution that offers:
1)a feasible business model. Oivi’s production price can allow for low scan prices, this is particularly important in India where 80-90% of people pay out of pocket, encouraging the diabetes population to get annually screened.
2)portability and easy-to-use allow the DR screening to be spread to sites where this is not possible today, also addressing the eye specialist shortage – most primary care centres, which are located close to the patients incl. in remote areas, do not have an ophthalmologist. Oivi’s autonomous alignment, capture and diagnostics allow for DR screening to be performed by non-trained staff, allowing for the referral of only DR patients for treatment, relieving eye specialists from screening.
