Multimedia provider Sentech has launched a pilot telemedicine project aimed at using satellite-driven broadband to leverage big city medical expertise for underprivileged rural areas.
The pilot project has been tested successfully over the past three months and has enabled the instant transmission of X-ray images from the Frontier Hospital in Queenstown, Eastern Cape, to radiologists at the Clinix Health Group's Dobsonville Clinic outside Johannesburg.
The project effectively "stretches" radiology know-how, by sending the images from patients in rural centres to expert radiologists at a specialist practice in Soweto. The experts examine the images and simultaneously provide an opinion to their colleagues "on the ground".
The transmission was made possible by the launch of VSTAR - Sentech's satellite based bi-directional broadband service - which creates an always-on environment for the satellite transmission of images and information.
"Medical aids are now developing affordable health plans that require the use of state facilities. However, no government can afford to equip state hospitals all over the country with the latest equipment while staffing them with highly qualified professionals in all specialisations," says Dr Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane, CEO of Sentech.
"With VSAT that is no longer necessary, as centres of excellence can be established at strategic points and our broadband capabilities can then connect these centres to all areas of need."
Mokone-Matabane says absolute clarity was assured, thanks to high-resolution, high-speed messaging at 512 kilobits a second.
"Broadband from a satellite platform obviates the need for ADSL connections, while VSAT's always-on environment cuts out dial-up delays and interruptions.
"It's win-win - both locally and across the African continent. South African expertise can be beamed into orbit and bounced down to earth in Kampala or Kigali or any other centre crying out for medical expertise," she says.
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