Vizag hospital initiates AI for advanced eye care
A full-fledged artificial intelligence system will treat glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy
image for illustrative purpose
Santosh Patnaik
Visakhapatnam: Sankar Foundation, which runs specialised eye care hospitals at Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam and a series of satellite referral clinics by tying up with the optical shops for telemedicine and referral to major centres for major ailments, has initiated measures to improve treatment further through artificial intelligence.
The hospitals run by the NGO, which performs 2500 cataract and 100 retina procedures per month with the help of a strong team of 33 doctors and paramedical staff, has recruited several IT consultants to develop a software for advanced treatments.
The referral centres are acting as slit photo labs for effective interpretation of multiple images. The mobile vans carry mobile fundus cameras and smartphone fundus cameras are also being made use for examining the images of the retina of patients to offer treatment at various places not within reach of the hospital. In the event of requirement, the foundation caregivers facilitate their visit to the main hospital for better care.
K B N Manimala, Managing Trustee and Group CEO, Sankar Foundation, told Bizz Buzz on Monday that a full-fledged AI system will be in place to offer better treatment of glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy in eight to nine months.
Experts believe that AI will help provide automated tools to the ophthalmologists to diagnose and treat ocular diseases. This is also expected to give a big boost to medical potential from leading players in the digital world post-pandemic like IBM and Google.
Manimala said availability of reliable data from various case studies; research and algorithms render better treatment in addressing the increasing problems of glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. She said they had treated pediatric cataract and squint procedures of which 600 children were born with cataract. Their parents were also of the opinion that they were born blind. Only a routine checkup led to determining the fact that they had the problem of cataract.
Sankar Foundation is a super specialty eye hospital in Visakhapatnam extending quality services in eye care management. Manimala informed that Sankar Foundation has started research on AI and tele-ophthalmology in its operations to achieve global standards in eye care management. The R&D department of the hospital is working towards this objective by utilising the technological advancements in ophthalmology under the leadership of Dr T Ravindara, she said.
The highest surgical performance was also achieved under the leadership of Dr Nasrin. She congratulated all the doctors and paramedical staff for the remarkable performance.
Manimala said that in an overpopulated country like India, the ophthalmologist to patient ratio stands at a paltry 1:100000. The fact that the country also has the highest number of visually challenged people in the world and 70 per cent of the population lives in rural areas. It has been observed that almost 88 per cent of blindness is avoidable, however, lack of infrastructure, medical personnel and awareness are delaying timely treatment. To bring a change to the situation, tele-ophthalmology services can serve as a viable option, she opined and added that with tele-ophthalmology, an ophthalmologist can provide consultation anywhere in the country.
She lauded the State government for its continuous support to the hospital particularly the government paramedical ophthalmic officers who are instrumental in successful implementation of Dr YSR Arogyasree.
On their achievements during the first half of the financial year, she said Sankar Foundation, Visakhapatnam, a super specialty eye hospital and known for its quality eye care services, achieved commendable performance in all types of eye surgeries including large number of retina surgeries and out-patient management. This was achieved due to the committed efforts of all doctors and paramedical staff of the hospital, she stated.
"We are happy to share that Sankar Foundation Eye Hospital has performed 17,357 eye surgeries in the first half of the current financial year including 14,880 cataract (Aarogyasri 8922; 1997 specialty including 1106 retina) surgeries," Manimala informed.
Availability of reliable data from various case studies; research and algorithms render better treatment in addressing the increasing problems of glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy
- KBN Manimala, Managing Trustee and Group CEO, Sankar Foundation
