Paratus Zambia and Right to Care install 250 Starlink units in remote health clinics.
Paratus Zambia has deployed Starlink connectivity across 250 health facilities in Luapula, Muchinga and Northern provinces through its partnership with Right to Care Zambia (RTCZ), supporting digital healthcare delivery in remote communities.
RTCZ is a non-governmental organisation with expertise across the HIV and TB case-finding and treatment spectrum. Supported by the US Department of State, the programme uses Paratus Essential Access to provide reliable connectivity to facilities that previously had limited or no access to stable digital infrastructure.
The connectivity supports the roll-out of Zambia’s SmartCare Electronic Health Record (EHR) System, implemented by the Smart Zambia Institute and the Ministry of Health. SmartCare replaces paper-based records with the real-time capture and retrieval of patient information, helping healthcare workers access patient records, laboratory results and referrals more efficiently.
As facilities transitioned to digital healthcare systems, increased data usage created connectivity challenges at some sites. Paratus Zambia and RTCZ responded by moving these facilities to the Paratus Essential Access Solution plan, removing data bundle thresholds and improving connectivity stability.
Head of IT from Right to Care Zambia, Paul Chinyemba, explains: “Reliable connectivity is not a solution in itself but it is an essential enabler of life-saving healthcare services. With stable internet access, our healthcare workers can use SmartCare effectively to support HIV treatment programmes, improve continuity of care and ensure that patients receive timely interventions. The move away from paper-based systems has been genuinely transformative for our teams on the ground. We can now extract better data, manage complex cases more proactively and respond faster when patients need us most. The partnership with Paratus Zambia and the stability provided by the Paratus Essential Access plan has strengthened both our operational efficiency and our ability to reach vulnerable populations in the communities we serve.”
“This partnership demonstrates Paratus in action,” says Country Manager of Paratus Zambia, Neill Nortje. “The project reflects our commitment to delivering practical technology solutions that support essential services. Reliable, uninterrupted LEO connectivity enables healthcare facilities in remote areas to access the digital systems they need to support healthcare delivery and HIV treatment programmes.”
As the programme matures, the experience gained is helping refine connectivity planning, data management and technical support, creating a scalable model for digital healthcare enablement across Zambia and potentially other regions.
