Yogi Kanagasingam is a Doctor, director of the CSIRO’s ophthalmology team, and he has more than 36 medical patents to date… approximately... he thinks. Over 36 inventions and his own patented eye care technology sold internationally - but he’s not puffed with pride just yet.

“Definitely, yes… I'm proud, I mean," He says, uncertainly. "If you can reach some more people around the world that would be, it could make a difference... I would be more proud if we could get it to some developing countries.”

It’s Yogi’s intention to develop a cost-effective eye care system that will reach and impact the developing world. His latest invention, created with researchers at the CSIRO’s Information and Communication Technology Centre and the Australian e-Health Research Centre is called Remote-i.

Remote-i is a low cost, high quality eye screening system that brings a patient's eyes to the specialist, digitally. The Remote-i’s cameras have the capability of capturing, storing and delivering high resolution, 3D images of the retina for analysis as web-based systems data.

Glaucoma is the name given to a group of eye diseases in which the optic nerve at the back of the eye is slowly destroyed. Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness world-wide and over 300,000 Australians have it but, at present, only 50 percent of those Australians know it.

Many eye diseases are diagnosed with a visual examination of the retina but, without a specialist in the vicinity, this diagnosis becomes rather tricky. Until now, patients in rural areas have found that specialist treatment comes with difficulty, delay, and great expense.

Geoff Pollard, National Executive Officer of Glaucoma Australia, says visual disability is a large and growing problem in Australia. After age 40, he says, the amount of visual impairment and blindness increases 3-fold with each decade of life and as the population ages, vision impairment is steadily emerging as a major health condition among older people. However, an incredible 80 percent of all visual impairment can be avoided or cured. “People tend to accept decreasing vision as just part of ‘normal’ ageing,” Pollard says. “They have little knowledge about available treatments.”

The Remote-i system, which has been positively received in trials with OPSM and the Western Australian government in Pilbara, may prove a cost-effective and accessible tool for the early diagnosis of visual impairment. The system allows nurses and other primary care practitioners to capture and share both static imagery and video conferencing imagery of the eye with remote specialists who offer advanced diagnostic advice, thereby enabling local practitioners to actually manage patients locally, without sending them great distances for specialist care.

David Hansen, CEO of the Australian e-Health Research Centre, says his hope is for licensing of Remote-i to continue to spread, enabling better rural care throughout Australia, beginning with the licensing of Queensland Health in order to provide the remote service right up through the Torres Strait Islands.

“I think our aim here is to be the ‘technology glue’ enabling ophthalmologists to provide these services to remote Australia. It could really make a difference to eye health in remote Australia. I think the potential is immense.”

While Australia’s need for the Remote-i is apparent, other countries are crying out for the services this technology can offer, Yogi says.

"In Fiji there’s only one ophthalmologist providing service to the whole island,” Yogi says. “He cannot provide services to everybody. If he can get a second opinion from Australian specialists, that would be a great option. We could provide this kind of system to reach more people.”

Another country Yogi would like his Remote-i to reach is Indonesia. “They are neighbours to us and have a huge problem with eye conditions – about 3 million people blind just because of cataract,” he says. According to Yogi, the number of ophthalmologists in Indonesia is just 800 for 200 million people, compared to Australia which enjoys the relative luxury of 800 ophthalmologists for 20 million people.

Pollard says the Remote-i technology excitingly offers hope for the diagnosis and management of geographically isolated individuals. If Doctor Yogi Kanagasingam and his fellow researchers have anything to do with it, this hope will be tangible, accessible and affordable for every person, regardless of location.