The first encounter of Smart Eye Camera (SEC) in Africa!!

From 2nd December to 6th December, OUI Inc. sent a mission to Malawi to undertake the pilot test of our Smart Eye Camera (SEC) in public eye clinics for rural residents in Malawi.

In Malawi, almost 85 percent of the population lives in remote, rural communities that are far from the country’s few eye health centers. Also, it is thought that about 36,000 people in Malawi are suffering from blindness, with half caused by cataracts.

With the great cooperation of our local partner, Blantyre Institute for Community Outreach (BICO), which have dedicated themselves for the prevention and control of the blindness of the rural residents with severe difficulty in access to the eye health services, we visited two clinics located in Zomba and Chikwawa, where the local doctors/medical staffs diagnosed more than 50 patients through SEC!

We could receive lots of positive feedbacks and impressive insights about SEC from the doctors/medical staffs.

They commented that SEC could have large potential in the the following occasions:

1. Eye camp for cataract surgeries

SEC possibly could achieve tremendous efficiency in outreach to identify the potential patients for eye camp for cataract surgeries.

Also, it could achieve higher efficiency in diagnosis for post-surgeries of eye-camp for cataract surgeries.

2. Diagnosis in rural eye clinics with frequent blackout

In the rural clinics they suffer from frequent blackout of electricity where the existing slit-lamp microscope cannot be used. (Not many rural clinics have installed generator.)

Even under such condition, doctors can keep on undertaking diagnosis through slit-lamp through SEC.

3. Training for young/less-experienced doctors/medical staffs

Making it possible to share the same vision together, SEC could work well for training scenes for young/less-experienced ophthalmologists/paramedics.

We are very happy and excited to be able to confirm the strong potential of SEC for improving the operational efficiency and quality of the medical services for rural residents suffering from serious eye disease.

Bringing back with lots of insights and feedback, we go forward to make a difference on the medical services in rural areas in developing countries through our products.

Again, we would like to express sincere respect and appreciation for our great partner in Malawi BICO, for their great support and cooperation with us.

ZIKOMO!!!!

OUI Inc. VP of Global Business

Shintaro Nakayama