The national initiative "See Your Eyes in Time" aims to improve the prevention and early diagnosis of socially significant eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and glaucoma. The project launched on September 28 in the Sofia region and involves the deployment of a mobile clinic, which will provide free high-tech screening based on artificial intelligence (AI) in a total of 29 small settlements across the country. Mira Ganova, Executive Director of the Bulgarian Digital Health Cluster, clarified that in addition to the mobile unit, which will visit the regions of Pleven, Varna, Burgas, Stara Zagora, and Plovdiv, a stationary center will also operate in the capital, available by appointment via phone. The initiative is unique to the country, with teams aiming to examine between 100 and 120 people daily in Sofia, as well as in Northwestern and Northeastern Bulgaria.
According to Prof. Dr. Alexander Oscar, Chairman of the Bulgarian Society of Pediatric Ophthalmology, Neuro-ophthalmology, and Ophthalmo-genetics, early detection is crucial, as these diseases cause 90% of cases of irreversible vision loss. Prof. Oscar highlighted the seriousness of the situation, citing the following information:
- In Bulgaria, approximately 700,000 people live with diabetes mellitus, and between 250,000 and 300,000 of them have some form of diabetic retinopathy, often discovered precisely by ophthalmologists.
- Data from the National Health Insurance Fund shows that less than half of people with eye diseases are aware of their condition, and of those, only half take advantage of free treatment due to low awareness, prejudices, or distrust of conventional medicine.
- Glaucoma begins subtly, and patients often seek help only when problems become noticeable, but the damage it causes is irreversible.
The screening process is innovative, non-invasive, and does not provide a diagnosis; rather, it identifies a potential problem for future confirmation. It involves registration, filling out a health questionnaire, and signing a consent form, followed by an imaging process that takes about a minute and a half. Examinations are conducted from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The camera used is certified and does not require pupil dilation, and the detail of the images allows the AI to recognize risks. Mira Ganova explained that although a drawback of AI is overdiagnosis, this makes it impossible to miss an actual health problem. The results are evaluated by an expert physician, who determines whether follow-up actions are needed, and can be sent to the patient's email.
The economic aspect of the screening was addressed by Prof. Genka Petrova, founder of the Bulgarian Association of Pharmacoeconomics (BAP). She emphasized that the costs to society are both health-related and social, measured by the impact of patient disability according to World Health Organization indicators:
- Macular degeneration has caused 7% of the total loss of productivity in Bulgaria, and for this disease, only 9% of the costs are health-related, while 91% are social.
- Glaucoma has cost a total of 6,674 years of disability in the country.
- Globally, vision loss has led to 33 million years of disability, costing over four billion dollars.
The campaign is supported by the Ministry of Health and organized by the Bulgarian Digital Health Cluster in partnership with the Bulgarian Society of Pediatric Ophthalmology, Neuro-ophthalmology, and Ophthalmo-genetics, the Bulgarian Association of Pharmacoeconomics, and sponsors.