BGAN helps to fix eye's

The shell of an essential eye clinic which will serve 200,000 Tanzanians was built by volunteers from the US, who sent daily progress reports via BGAN.

Around 35 volunteers from the Atonement Lutheran Church in Kansas City travelled to Mwanza, Eastern Tanzania, to construct the clinic structure as part of a project being coordinated by International Health Partner TZ-US organisation.
The volunteers supplied many of the building materials themselves and worked in an area where mobile broadband proved extremely useful for keeping in touch.

Blogs and photos were sent via a Thrane & Thrane BGAN terminal.
Charles Powell, a physician and church member who travelled with the group, says the BGAN service was a useful asset. He would take a BGAN terminal on another such trip as it was ideal for emergency use when local services are unavailable.
"We found the service to be reliable, in distinct contrast to the wireless service available locally. For our purposes, this was a definite advantage," he said.

"Although we were located near a metropolitan area the system could have worked equally well in remote regions. Data exchange rates were acceptable and we were able to share our connection by using a simple wireless access point," said Charles.
"This allowed me to upload and download email to my Blackberry device whenever the satellite link was running and I was able to exchange daily updates from the hostel we were staying, while another church member kept the blog updated with very little difficulty."

These updates recorded the setting up of a makeshift eye clinic in an existing facility next door where the volunteers' resident doctor saw around 30 local patients a day.

Source: Inmarsat