Rahul Shingrani

Indian technologist creating affordable eye care solutions for rural populations

Rahul Shingrani is an Indian biomedical engineer whose company SightFirst Technologies has developed revolutionary low-cost eye examination devices. His 2021 invention, the RetinaReader, reduces the cost of diabetic retinopathy screening by 90%, making it accessible to India's 77 million diabetics. This portable device, now used in 1,200 rural health centers, has prevented over 200,000 cases of vision loss since 2022.

Shingrani's 2023 launch of the AarogyaDrishhti Network connects rural optometrists with urban specialists via telemedicine, creating India's first nationwide eye care referral system. His collaboration with WHO produced the Global Vision Toolkit, a multilingual resource used in 45 countries.

A 2024 Forbes Healthcare Innovator, Shingrani's work is featured in the documentary "Seeing the Future". His open-source design philosophy allows local manufacturers in Kenya and Vietnam to produce 70% of the device components, creating jobs while improving health outcomes. The World Bank estimates his technologies could save $2.3 billion annually in avoidable blindness costs globally.