Samsung is repurposing its old Galaxy phones into medical cameras for countries like India

• Samsung’s initiative has been launched under the Galaxy Upcycling programme.
• This programme aims to make use of old Galaxy phones to bring affordable healthcare services to countries like India, Vietnam, Morocco, and Papua New Guinea.
• To do this, Samsung is using a combination of Eyelike fundus camera, old Galaxy phones and artificial intelligence to diagnose eye diseases.

Samsung announced, on Wednesday, a new device called the Eyelike fundus camera that can be used to repurpose old Galaxy phones into medical cameras. This allows doctors to use Galaxy smartphones to diagnose eye diseases.

The Eyelike fundus camera has been launched under the Galaxy Upcycling programme which was first introduced in South Korea in 2017. Now, Samsung has expanded it to India and other countries, including Vietnam, Morocco, and Papua New Guinea.

Here's how Samsung is repurposing old Galaxy phones into medical cameras

According to Samsung, the old Galaxy phones can be used to act as the “brain” of the Eyelike fundus camera, which connects to the phone using a lens attachment. The phone captures the images and uses an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to analyse and diagnose them for ophthalmic diseases.

All of this is then fed into an app that captures patient data and recommends a treatment regime.

Some of the ophthalmic diseases that can be diagnosed using Samsung’s Eyelike fundus camera include conditions that could lead to blindness, like diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration. The company noted that the capabilities of this system are being enhanced to screen cervical cancer.

Samsung says that its Eyelike fundus solution has helped 19,000 residents in Vietnam, so far. It has partnered with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and Yonsei University Health System (YUHS) for this programme.

“The combination of using multiple optical technologies and artificial intelligence, coupled with camera performance of a Galaxy smartphone, created an affordable medical device that was just as capable as a fundus camera used by medical professionals,” said Dr. Sangchul Yoon of Yonsei University Health System.

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