In India, where healthcare resources are often scarce, AI technology from SAP and CleaVision offers new hope for newborns at risk of Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), a condition that can cause permanent blindness if untreated. This innovative use of technology and medicine is helping to prevent blindness in infants across the country.
ROP primarily affects premature babies. India, with over 3 million preterm births each year, has the highest number of such births worldwide. “About 25% to 40% of these babies risk developing ROP,” explains Dr. Anand Vinekar, head of the Pediatric Retina Department at Narayana Nethralaya Eye Institute in Bangalore and founder of KIDROP, a program addressing ROP in rural India.
Preventing blindness from ROP is possible if the condition is detected and treated within the first few weeks of birth. However, screening all preterm infants multiple times during this critical period is a daunting task, equating to over 20 million exams annually. The vast distances many families live from hospitals, combined with a shortage of specialized doctors, complicate this effort.
Programs like KIDROP, along with CleaVision and SAP, are using AI to help bridge this gap, offering a lifeline to infants like Hanvith C. His parents, fearing the possibility of inherited blindness, sought help after learning about KIDROP. Thanks to KIDROP’s outreach, Hanvith was diagnosed with ROP symptoms and received successful follow-up treatment in Bangalore, transforming his story from one of fear to hope.
KIDROP aims to expand its reach by training non-physicians to use field imaging cameras to take digital images of babies’ eyes. However, this generates thousands of retinal scans that need review, creating a bottleneck in diagnosis and treatment. “Now you have plenty of images and no one to read them,” says Dr. Vinekar.
This is where CleaVision’s solution, supported by SAP Business AI technology, plays a crucial role. Eye images are uploaded to CleaVision, which automates the identification of retina and blood vessel features and recommends whether ROP is present. This system allows doctors to quickly identify and prioritize at-risk children.
“We are not going to base our entire decision and management on what [the AI] says,” Dr. Vinekar clarifies. “But it’ll help us to triage these images.” This balanced approach leverages technology while maintaining the importance of human judgment in healthcare decisions.
The impact of AI from SAP and CleaVision is profound. Hanvith C’s parents emphasize the importance of awareness and early intervention, hoping other families will benefit from this technology. Their dreams for Hanvith’s future are simple yet profound. “We want him to become a doctor, do good, and help other people when he grows up,” his mother says. “Just like they helped us at the very beginning of his life.”
