Early Detection Of A Growing Epidemic Can Save Your Child
About 1.5 million babies are born premature in India every year. Shruti, was born in Aurangabad on a bright day in April. Her entire family was happy and overjoyed, but their happiness over was short lived. Soon after she was born, she was diagnosed with an eye complication which led to her blindness being permanent and irreversible. The last 12yrs have been complete darkness in her world.
Earlier, premature babies used to die due to lack of facilities, but with the intervention of the government, and the private sector, they have started to survive. But then they develop a complication, in the eye. This complication is called Retinopathy of Prematurity or ROP. If it isn’t screened, treated and identified as ROP, within the first 90 days of birth, these babies can go permanently and irreversibly blind.
ROP is now considered the third epidemic in India. The burden due to ROP blindness, by 2022, is expected to be a whopping Rs 2,500 crores. Leaving aside the emotional impact it is going to have on the parents and relatives of the baby.
The reason for this problem is the limited number of ophthalmologists in our country. Additionally, the required equipment is very expensive, about 120,000 dollars (Rs 78 lakhs). The machine is bulky, about 30 kgs, and can’t be moved from place to place.
The TriNaitraNeo innovation is a product which is 1/5th the cost and weighs only 1/5th the weight of the existing product. It is mobile and can be moved around easily. A technician can take an image, and a specialist can actually see it over the cloud, diagnose and advice what action to take next. Today, this product is creating an impact in India, Europe, Nepal, Bangladesh, Mexico and Indonesia.
“Our inspiration has been Dr. Anand Vinekar, who is a world renowned ROP specialist. I wanted to use my semi-conductors and electronic experience to see can I find the solution and innovate. My colleague was in Mexico a couple of months back demonstrating the Neo. The doctors took our device and started screening the babies and found twins who were almost on the verge of losing their vision. The parents were called, counselled, and the treatment was given within the next 3 hours. We could see the retina attaching within the next day and the vision was restored for the babies. We are glad to see platforms such as Marico Innovation Foundation Awards amongst others who are acknowledging our efforts in bridging the gaps,” says K. Chandrasekhar, Co-Founder & CEO, Forus Health & Winner, MIF Awards 2018.
If not intervened correctly, 3.5 lakh babies will go blind every year due to ROP and preventable blindness is a huge problem. Let’s all come together, spread the awareness make the world free from ROP blindness, because every child has a right to vision.
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The CSR Journal Team
