Teleoptometry

The real time transmission of clinical and ocular information of a patient  from a remote site over a communication network, through interactive audiovisual media for the purpose of consulting and sometimes conducting clinical procedures or examinations is a possibility. Vision 2020 which targets to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020 is facing multiple setbacks in some developing countries like Nigeria. These setbacks are more evident in the rural communities and include difficult terrain, lack of appropriate infrastructure, poor health care system, fragile communication system, epileptic or no power supply, low and anomalous distribution of eye doctors, etc.  A country such as India has specifically tackled such setbacks experienced in their health care system by taking advantage of modern digital networking  technology such as N-logue and  ATN. Today, the Indian citizenry has a success story to tell. With a simple webcam, laptop and headset, or even with GSM cell phones alone, eye care services in Nigeria can extend their services to areas hitherto under-served while still having proper