Projects

25% of Curaçao Island population (40’000) suffers from diabetes, a disease which may lead to many complications, one of them being Diabetic Retinopathy. This eye threatening condition can cause severe vision problems and sometimes even blindness. Periodical eye screening is the best way this can be prevented. However with an extremely limited capacity of specialized medical care, ophthalmologists, and ophthalmic equipment on Curaçao, only a small part of the population can be offered proper eye care today.

Thirona Retina joined forces with Laboratorio de Medicos and provided RetCAD software to make preventive eye screening for Diabetic Retinopathy on Curaçao Island possible. This will allow Laboratorio de Medicos to open more screening locations across the whole island and offer all people equal access to eye care.

About 5,3% of Australian population (1.3 million people) are suffering from diabetes. Providing accessible eye-screening for patients with diabetes is extremely important to prevent vision loss. However, for distant communities in Australia, this task seems almost impossible. The average patient in Australian remote community must overcome a great distance to the nearest GP and get a referral for the ophthalmologist, not mentioning the fact that there is a limited number of ophthalmologists available in the peripheral areas.

Thirona Retina joined forces with Topcon Healthcare to provide on-spot eye screening solution among distant communities. Topcon fundus cameras with RetCAD software have been installed so far in five clinics in various clinical settings, including the Lions Outback Vision Van, optometry and an Aboriginal medical service, with more installations to come in the nearest future.

According to the International Diabetic Federation Europe, there is about 9,8% of diabetes prevalence among the working-class population in Czech Republic. As diabetic retinopathy is an often side-effect of diabetes that can lead to vision loss, it is important to provide diabetic patients with accessible eye screening.

Understanding this issue, local eye care professionals have been working on a reimbursement program since 2018. This project is aimed to make eye screening for DR accessible for all diabetic patients in the country. In November 2022 Thirona Retina empowered the project with RetCAD software for retina image analysis. Thirona Retina provides RetCAD™ software for the reimbursement program and holds trainings for local professionals together with Czech Diabetic Society to help healthcare providers meet all the conditions.