Teleophthalmology in the post-coronavirus era

173,766 New Zealanders suffer from visual impairment. The associated health-system costs are $523 million in total, or $3,008 per person. Yet eighty percent (80%) of blindness is avoidable if detected on time. Public health services have an increasing workload but are also limited by material and technical resources. Optometry practices continually increase referrals (up to 100% in one year) that cannot be solved on time, reducing the efficiency of the service. Teleophthalmology works by improving the efficiency of screening and monitoring and integrating eye healthcare and by decreasing referrals by up to 40%.