[10-10-07 – Satellite Today] ND SatCom has implemented the third batch of satellite terminals for a telemedicine project initiated by the Kazakh Ministry of Health, ND SatCom announced Dec. 10.
    The project, which was kicked off in 2005 for two of the 14 Kazakh regions and then extended by a further two regions in 2006, establishes regional medical centers and equip them with telemedicine networks for offering remote access to experts in urban areas for medical consultancy and collaboration. The telemedicine networks connect urban medical centers, hospitals and medical universities throughout the country with doctors based in rural, remote and inaccessible sites. Transmitted data are either real-time, e.g. telephone, live operations and video-conferencing, or store-and-forward data such as patient files and X-Ray photographs.     Dietmar Riedel, Director Sales Europe & CIS of ND SatCom, states that feedback has been very positive: “The installation of these networks led to a significant reduction in the times taken to diagnose certain illnesses and diseases. Thus overall medical care response time has been shortened in addition to the time and effort required to transport patients to medical centers. Furthermore, diagnoses have proved much better in the districts served by telemedicine networks.”