Development Marketplace 2007
Improving Results in Health, Nutrition & Population for the Poor
Proposal :MOBILE EYE CARE CLINIC FOR THE TRIBAL PEOPLE OF INDIA’S NORTHEAST
Summary :To provide a quality eye care facility for Tribal communities in remote areas through a Mobile Eye Clinic and Wi-Fi wireless technology.
Why is the project necessary?
India has an estimated 15 million people visually challenged, 52 million people visually impaired and 270,000 cases of childhood blindness. Cataracts, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy are prevalent. Nearly 70% of its patients live in rural India, where there is an acute shortage of ophthalmologists. The elimination of needless blindness, therefore, needs an innovative approach in ‘reaching as many as we can’ by reaching out beyond the clinic. Delivering eye care to the Tribal population is challenging due their remote locations and lack of a sustainable and quality healthcare infrastructure in those locations. Hence, this proposal presents a tele-ophthalmology system to connect a specialty base hospital with a remote Eye Care Van.
Innovation/Effectiveness
The tele-linked Mobile Eye Care facility is expected to cover more than 50,000 patients annually in tribal areas reaching a target of 100,000 patients in the 24 months of the project period. The project provides affordable and accessible advanced eye care to remote locations of Northeast India through economical mobile eye care facilities. It will procure a Mobile Eye Care Van with all the necessary equipment and long-distance wireless infrastructure (Wi-Fi) technology with off-the-shelf videoconferencing software and tools. The mobile eye care facility will also work with a network of specialists through a voluntary effort a the partner institute as well as the Govt. of Assam.
PFI Foundation got the following awards :
|