STARTUP SPECIAL ......SOCIAL ENTERPRISE ET AWARD - `Double Bottomline' Startups That Combine Profits & Public Good

STARTUP SPECIAL SOCIAL ENTERPRISE ET AWARD - `Double Bottomline' Startups That Combine Profits & Public Good   Forus Health's low-cost eye-testing device can reach where no one else  goes ... and the award goes to K Chandrasekhar & Shyam Vasudeva Rao Forus Health Forus Health is one of the earliest hardware startups in India's lowcost  healthcare segment. The Bengaluru-based company's trump card is a portable eye-screening  device called 3nethra.Developed for mass pre-screening, especially in  remote areas, 3nethra can play a crucial role in early detection of eye diseases such as  cataract, diabetic retinopathy and cornea-related problems. Over five years, Forus Health has screened eight lakh eyes in 20 countries  using 3nethra. “It's a real proud moment for us,“ Cofounder and Chief Executive K  Chandrasekhar  said on being informed that Forus Health had won the  `Social Enterprise' category award. “The No. 1 business paper in India  acknowledging us for the work we have done is overwhelming. I dedicate this award to our team.“ What makes 3nethra especially effective is it requires only 10 watts of power and can run for four hours on a UPS, making it ideal for remote areas. It can be  easily operated by minimally trained technicians and the digital information  captured by it can be transmitted electronically .Also, 3nethra is available at  onesixth the cost of regular eye-screening devices. A test can be completed in less than five minutes on the device. India has one of the largest blind populations in the world with more than 15 million people having little or no eyesight. But the country has only one ophthalmologist for every 70,000 people. Globally, about 40 million people are blind. But in most cases, blindness can be prevented if there is intervention in the early stages, said Chandrasekhar. “We want to touch 20 million lives, adding more products and extending to more geographies predominantly in the screening ophthalmology space,“ he  said. Chandrasekhar, a former Director-Strate g y at NXP Semiconductors, along with Shyam Vasudev, a former DirectorTechnology at Philips  Healthcare, ounded Forus Health in 2010.Chandrasekhar completed his  Masters of Science and Technology at the Birla Institute of Technology &  Science, Pilani and Vasudev is a gold medalist from the Indian Institute of  Science, Bangalore. Forus' 3nethra works well for countries like India, which has a poor  doctor-patient ratio. “The percentage of preventable blindness in India  should drop and we would have played a role in it,“ said Chandrasekhar.  The company's device can be deployed in mobile screening camps, private  clinics, large hospitals and even in kiosks.Forus Health employs nearly  100 people. Large companies like Ziess and Topcon sell ophthalmological devices  similar to what Forus Health supplies but these are costlier.Nearly 850  3nethra devices have been deployed in about 20 countries.“At least 3 lakh  people have been prevented from going blind,“ said Chandrasekhar. In 2014, Forus Health raised Rs 50 crore from Asian Healthcare Fund and existing investors including Accel Partners and IDG Ventures.Two years  prior, Accel Partners and IDG Ventures had invested $5 million in the  company .

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