Retinal Disease Detection (ChákṣuAI)

India faces a growing burden of vision impairment, the majority of which is preventable. The National Blindness & Visual Impairment Survey (2015-2019) revealed that a staggering 92.9% of all blindness cases in India are either preventable or treatable. This challenge stems from a lack of timely prescreening and care, imposing a significant socio-economic burden estimated at ₹1.158 lakh crore in 2019, or 0.57% of the nation’s GDP.

This gap is particularly wide in rural areas, where Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs) often lack the advanced diagnostic tools needed for early detection. Furthermore, most existing AI models are trained on Western populations and tend to underperform or exhibit bias when applied to India's diverse demographics. This creates a critical need for India-specific datasets and AI models.