The world-leading satellite operator SES S.A., the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, and non-governmental organisation (NGO) German Doctors announced on Friday the launch of satellite-based e-health platform SATMED in the Philippines. The SATMED solution was deployed at the German Doctors’ hospital in Buda, Marilog District, Davao City.
SATMED will allow German Doctors to enhance healthcare provision and deliver accessible e-health services to remote communities on the island of Mindanao. German Doctors is one of the partner NGOs of SATMED during the ongoing pilot phase.
SATMED can improve public health in developing countries by enabling multiple medical applications and tools integrated on a single platform over satellite broadband services. The solution was developed by SES Techcom Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES, and is funded by the Luxembourg Government.
The new SATMED solution deployed in Central Mindanao will enable German Doctors to provide better quality healthcare services when they visit remote villages. Using SATMED, teams can use portable devices such as tablets to collect the patients’ data. The data collected is then processed, aggregated and synchronised securely on SATMED’s cloud platform. SATMED’s text messaging functionality will allow doctors to keep tabs on large groups of patients living in remote villages, whose main form of contact with the outside world is through mobile phones.
SATMED will enable German Doctors to communicate with doctors and medical experts around the world via video conferencing. Training of local medical professionals via SATMED’s e-learning solutions will be another opportunity.
“More than 200,000 people are living within the catchment area of the Buda Community Health Care Centre – about half of those coming from the indigenous population, who often have no access to medical care and whose lives are below the poverty line. German Doctors is committed to improving healthcare services for local communities, but poor terrestrial connectivity in rural locations poses obstacles in analysing and monitoring our patients’ health problems, accessing their medical records, providing follow up of care, and managing other areas of our outreach,” said Dietmar Schug Managing Director of German Doctors. “SATMED and its suite of medical applications opens up healthcare possibilities and boosts our efforts in making accessible, quality healthcare a reality for these remote communities.”
“The implementation of SATMED – through satellite connectivity – makes digital imaging, e-learning and consultation, and other e-health solutions, available to the local medical community,” said Glen Tindall, Vice President of Sales, Asia-Pacific at SES. “Just as German Doctors’ work in Mindanao is vital to the local population, so is connectivity to the provision of quality healthcare, and we are proud to support German Doctors in bringing these much-needed health services closer to patients in rural locations.”
