Our mission is to empower eye care organisations with innovative technology

Pellucid Networks aims to enable early detection and acceleration in avoiding preventable blindness. Rajesh Sukumaran, CEO, Pellucid Networks, in an interaction with Express Healthcare, talks about how the company has been able to help eradicate blindness with innovative technological support

Founded in 2008, it’s close to a decade for Pellucid Network to be working in eye care technology space. How has been the journey so far?

With 7.3 billion population worldwide, there are 36 million people with blindness, 217 million with moderate to severe eye impairment. However, there are less than quarter of a million ophthalmologists. We need to address this gap. Our mission is to empower eye care organisations with innovative technology to upscale their functioning, maximise their efficiency.

As an end-to-end solution provider in the healthcare sector, how do you see advances in technology impacting the eye care industry?

Big and positive changes are brought in at primary care level, where a lot depends on early detection of eye impairment symptoms, right referrals and follow up till the corrective measure is taken. All of this is now possible in a systematic way.

Which healthcare providers in India are well equipped with tackling today’s eye care issues?

Eye health delivery is undergoing a huge transformation due to rise in diabetes, glaucoma and ageing population. Once abreast with an efficient medical system that embraces technology, we can certainly tackle today’s health scenario. They should involve technological partnership right from the business planning stage, even before the foundation stone is laid down. It’s should not be an afterthought but at the core.

What is the scope of operations for Pellucid currently? How big is the Pellucid team?

We believe in not only delivering the perfect software solution, but an ongoing implementation support to our clients. We have undertaken successful implementation for many giants like Singapore National Screening Program, Drishti Eye Center (Nepal’s biggest private eye health network), Sightsavers and OEU. We’re a team of 50+ and growing constantly with our base in Singapore and Chennai.

Who are your competitors?

From budding startups to large companies such as IBM are working in this space. A lot of technology providers that do not specialise in eye care are in the market or are venturing into the market. But in the end clients understand that these vendors are not always appropriate, as eye care providers have special needs.

What makes Pellucid unique in eye caring space?

Eye care like a lot of specialities has an ecosystem starting with most primary eye care level which deals with basic eye screening of patients for refraction and cataract. They can dispense spectacles and for small surgeries or procedures refer patients to secondary level. Much severe cases are directed to tertiary care eye hospitals.

We specialise in delivering comprehensive and integrated services capable of connecting the entire eco system. We have a wide range of solutions starting from mobility devices to advance HMIS to image-based EMR system to client specific tele-ophthalmology solutions.

What are the possibilities of artificial intelligence (AI) in eye healthcare?

We have our own AI solution that’s integrated to our screening software for diabetic retinopathy and we are now developing an AI platform for glaucoma screening.

So, there is an endless scope for artificial intelligence in eye care.

What are your future plans?

We are very fortunate with getting business in eye care; our team is growing with plans to venture into newer markets.

Don’t think we’ll be slowing down anytime soon.