Lay summary
Clinicians are making swift moves to compensate for the social distancing necessary to keep safe in the post-COVID-19 era. Since ophthalmology is a specialization that requires close proximity to patients to conduct examinations, it poses a severe health risk, both for patients and specialists.
Telemedicine could alleviate the situation. To increase the effectiveness of virtual visits, still, many advancements must be made in terms of imaging and screening devices, networking compatibility of currently available devices, and enabling remote control of the screening devices by the specialist to consult a patient located remotely at a local optometrist or a GP clinic.
We propose a novel robotic telehealth system specific to ophthalmology, wherein the specialist can remotely access and control the screening devices located at a GP/optometrist clinic. Such a system could address the majority of issues that currently limit telehealth use in ophthalmology and improve equitable access to eyecare.