The project deals with Computer aided diagnosis of eye diseases, Glaucoma and Diabetic Retinopathy and is funded by Department of Science & Technology (DST), New Delhi. The project was investigated under the guidance of Dr M. K. Dutta, Professor and Head, Amity School of Engineering and Technology, Amity University, Noida.
Glaucoma and Diabetic Retinopathy are very dangerous eye diseases and needs proper medical treatment at an early stage. Such diseases can cause permanent blindness or vision loss. The root cause for the increase in the numbers of patients with blindness in India is a general lack of awareness and poor access to eye care professionals. To add to the challenge, there are only about 12,000 ophthalmologists in India for its 1 billion-plus population, resulting in a ratio of 1 ophthalmologist for every 90,000 people. There is an urgent need to bridge this void as poor vision can impact the personal life of an individual and have a telling effect on his/her productivity. If detected at an early stage, appropriate solutions can be prescribed which will go a long way in reducing the levels of visual impairment. There is a need to expand medical services to rural areas and raise awareness on regular eye check-ups. An optimal solution seems to be Computer Aided Detection of diseases, which can bridge the gap and assist a medical expert at primary care centers in taking fast and accurate decisions in screening patients.
