The Narayana Nethralaya Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology, Bangalore, is piloting software that will enable doctors to access retinal images of remote-area patients on their iPhones. The technology will facilitate the testing of infants for a potentially blinding condition, Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), and other conditions like ocular cancers.

With the institute having initiated pilot projects in six regions - Bangalore Urban, Rural, Mandya, Tumkur, Bidar, and Gulbarga - the doctors have already screened 1,600 infants and cured about
1,600 high-RoP-risk infants.

The technology helps upload images from the computer a server using the Internet, with the software then helping to deliver the images to the doctor's iPhone. Upon receiving the images, the doctors diagnose them, and send PDF reports via their mobile phones to the server, from where the reports are passed on to the patient's site through the Internet.

Developed by Singapore's i2i TeleSolutions, the software, though initially for the iPhone, can also be ported to other mobile phones. Anand Vinekar, project coordinator and the Bangalore- based hospital's pediatric retinal surgeon, said that the hospital chose the iPhone because of its graphics capability, screen resolution, and features like the ability to enlarge images.

Sham Banerji, CEO of i2i TeleSolutions, which has submitted the software for inclusion in its App Store, said that doctors from other hospitals in other locations can also download the application to their iPhones, and collaborate in the diagnosis.