Satmed dish. Photo: SES.

SES and the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs announced that they have extended a contract to maintain and support Satmed, an e-health satellite platform, until 2020. Under the new contract, SES will continue to develop the Satmed platform and its medical applications, support the platform’s data-hosting facility, and provide full user support with single point of contact.

The agreement also includes the extension of the service to support new medical tools, as well as the provision of satellite connectivity over Africa, the Philippines and Bangladesh.

SES designed Satmed to connect doctors and nurses based in remote locations to the outside world. Healthcare professionals will use satellite connectivity to access the platform’s medical applications such as e-training, accessing patients’ e-medical records, virtual consultation, and video conferencing.

Satmed also aims to support development programs and humanitarian operations in cooperation with both governmental and non-governmental organizations. The SES satellite fleet enables connectivity, while the Satmed web applications and the encrypted backups are hosted in a secured data hosting facility in Luxembourg. Once deployed, SES delivers the platform as a fully managed service and includes helpdesk, maintenance of terminals and continuous user training.