SES and Friendship Luxembourg signing donation agreement. Photo: SES

[Via Satellite 04-12-2016] SES Techcom Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of SES, is donating VSAT antennas to Friendship Luxembourg, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). SES Techcom Services recently partnered with Friendship in Bangladesh to install maritime VSAT antennas and to deploy Satmed, a satellite-based e-health platform, on three Friendship hospital ships: Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital, Emirates Friendship Hospital and Rongdhonu Friendship Hospital (formerly the Rainbow Warrior 2). SES donated the antenna for the Emirates Friendship Hospital.

The newly-deployed e-health platform will enable healthcare workers on Friendship floating hospitals to connect to doctors and gain access to medical knowledge from around the world, provide medical counseling to marginalized communities through telemedicine, provide e–learning services and efficiently manage communications across their teams.

“This partnership is a great illustration of how satellite technology can benefit humanitarian initiatives,” said Marc Elvinger, chairman of Friendship Luxembourg. “With Friendship’s innovative healthcare model and the Satmed connectivity, patients can now be remotely diagnosed by experts thousands of miles away, and doctors and nurses can improve their knowledge through online courses or live sessions. Lives can be saved and changed through easy access to necessary information available anywhere via the Internet.”