Enabling access to advanced healthcare in rural Philippines through satellite technology

The Pangutaran District Hospital, once just a primary healthcare facility, is now a 25-bed government hospital with field health accreditation. FOR years, rural healthcare in the Philippines has been affected by a lack of connectivity. This has been exacerbated with the recent Covid-19 outbreak, further highlighting a need for greater investment in technology for rural healthcare facilities.As technology has advanced rapidly worldwide, the way we live and communicate has fundamentally changed. Primary sectors such as healthcare, government and trade are increasingly reliant on connectivity. This global uptake has also highlighted inequities and gaps within the roll-out of technology, particularly in rural areas. In the Philippines, where 52 percent of the population live in rural areas, access to sufficient internet continues to leave behind people in the “last mile.”Consider Pangutaran, a remote island with a population of approximately 30,000. Access to the island involves a five-hour boat ride to the mainland, which is approximately 60 km away. The island is too remote for fiber broadband access, which means that a reliable and fast connection through fiber is off the cards for its residents. If we look at healthcare, the local district hospital has been severely impacted by a lack of reliable internet connectivity. Despite undergoing a major infrastructure upgrade to accommodate a growing population, the technological resources still lagged far behind, unable to accommodate the health needs of the community.Transpacific Broadband Group, Inc. is a local internet service provider partnered with Singapore-based satellite operator Kacific.That’s where satellite connectivity comes in. Using satellite technology, Kacific has been able to provide an alternative to fiber that is reliable, fast and cost-effective for rural, remote areas. The first Ka-band HTS satellite, Kacific1, was launched in 2019 as a geostationary satellite. Kacific’s Ka-band technology and spectrum has been reshaping satellite technology in recent years, since it delivers higher-throughput bandwidth using smaller antenna sizes, meaning higher upload and download speeds compare to C-band and Ku-band. Powered by Ka-band technology, Kacific’s broadband service was implemented in the Pangutaran District Hospital putting an end to the community’s connectivity struggles.Kacific, through their local internet service provider, Transpacific Broadband Group Inc. (TBGI), can offer internet speeds of up to 40mbps for residential and 120mbps for enterprise customers. Unlike dial-up or Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), the internet connection remains fast and stable once the service has been installed. Thanks to technological advances put in place by Kacific, the impact of inclement weather on the signal strength is less significant, allowing consistent speed and stable communication even during a typical rainy season in the Philippines. Finally, Kacific’s satellite service is value for money, and easy to set up. With a small satellite dish, deployment becomes faster and cheaper for both businesses and local customers in rural areas.View the full price plans of TBGI here.
For hospitals like Pangutaran District Hospital, this new-found internet connectivity is a game-changer. Doctors and nurses now can utilize digital tools to offer higher standard of care. Better connectivity means everyone in the hospital is able to reliably send radiology studies to a centre in Davao for analysis, as well as make Zoom calls across the country and even all the way to Singapore. It also enables doctors to gain rapid access to information that can aid in the diagnosis process, developing treatment plans, or offering telemedicine.Internet connectivity has a ripple effect. As care providers can offer a more interconnected, higher standard of service to their patients, now the people of Pangutaran also have more options and better services available right in their hands when it comes to healthcare. This change, in turn, contributes to the overall quality of life, as people have more power to take better control of their health.High-speed, easy-to-install and cost-effective satellite solutions like VSAT powered by Kacific give remote areas better opportunities to thrive through the help of stable internet connectivity. Satellite technology has given rural communities a better alternative to traditional connection services and has filled the gap where no or very limited internet coverage is currently available. Empowered by reliable broadband internet through Kacific1 satellite, rural hospitals can foster high level healthcare with improved quality of care, timeliness and efficiency. For local people, this is a new dawn, giving them hope and peace of mind.Interested customers can check out TBGI’s range of affordable plans here, or call (02) 8404 0239 to discuss their service needs.For more information on Kacific’s satellite technology, visit www.kacific.com or contact sales@kacific.com. SPONSORED CONTENT.