Satellite based Telemedicine in Latin America

T@HIS was a telemedical network connecting physicians and hospitals over a new-generation satellite network based on the recently launched AmerHis payload on the AMAZONAS satellite. The aim of the project was to improve the access to medical resources, available only to rural cities from the isolated areas in Amazon in Para prefecture. Within the project three remote clinics in Amazonas, Para states in Brazil were connected to a referral hospital in Belém, the capital city of Pará. The dominant type of images transferred over the system were ultrasound images, acquired from portable or stationary ultrasound devices. The medical applications included general examinations as well as obstetrics and gynecology. However, the applied platform handled any imaging modality and particularly DICOM formatted data.