Education through Satellite Boom for Health Care Sector

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Abstract- Satellite through health education can be an effective

strategy to meet this need in a technology-supported, cost-

effective and time-efficient manner. India’s educational pro-

gramme got a fillip on 20 September 2004 with the successful

launch of EDUSAT, from the launch pad of the Satish Dhawan

Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andra Pradesh. This satellite using

Ku band covers the whole country. ISRO has setup this satellite

based interactive network, to meet the requirements of various

users in Health education sector. The concept of beaming edu-

cational programmes through satellites was effectively demon-

strated for the first time in India in 1975–76 through the Satel-lite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) conducted us-

ing the American Application Technology Satellite (ATS-6).

During this unique experiment, which is hailed as the largest

sociological experiment conducted anywhere in the world, pro-

grammes pertaining to health, hygiene and family planning

were telecast directly to about 2400 Indian villages spread over

six states. Considering this approach, the present paper dis-

cusses about possibilities, benefits and action plan for launching

a dedicated satellite to meet the Health education needs of the

Bijapur City.

Keywords: EDUSAT, Health Care, Education Satellite

I. INTRODUCTIONIndia’s educational programme got a fillip on 20

September 2004 with the successful launch of EDU-SAT, from the launch pad of the Satish Dhawan SpaceCentre, Sriharikota, AP. EDUSAT is an indigenouslydesigned satellite, which is exclusively devoted to thefield of education. This is a path-breaking effort in theconcept of tele-education. EDUSAT was placed in the36,000 km high geostationary orbit and co-located withINSAT-3C and KALPANA-1 at 74 East longitude.The satellite weighing 1950 kg at lift off, including1110 kg of propellants for orbit raising and mainte-

nance is designed to provide service for seven years.Satellites can establish the connectivity between urbaneducational institutions with adequate infrastructureimparting quality education and the large number of rural and semi-urban educational institutions that lack the necessary infrastructure. Besides supporting formaleducation, satellite systems can facilitate disseminationof knowledge to the rural and remote population aboutimportant aspects of health, hygiene and personalitydevelopment and allow professionals to update theirknowledge base as well. Thus in spite of limited num-ber of trained and skilled professional and doctors theaspirations of the growing student population can bemet through the concept of tele-education.

EDUSAT is the first exclusive satellite for servingthe educational in the health care sector. It is speciallyconfigured to meet the growing demand for an interac-tive satellite-based distance education system for thecountry through audio-visual medium, employing Di-rect-to-Home (DTH) quality broadcast. The satellitehas multiple regional beams covering different parts of India –5 Ku band transponders with spot beams cover-

ing different regions, a Ku-band and transponder withits footprint covering the Indian mainland region and6C-band transponders with their footprints covering theentire country. The scope of the EDUSAT programmeis planned to be realized in three phases. In the firstphase of pilot projects, Kuband transponder on boardINSAT-3B, which is already in orbit, is being used.Visveswaraiah Technological University (VTU) is themain beneficiary of this pilot project. Under this project, all engineering colleges of VTU are being net-worked with 100 nodes. Besides Karnataka, the Y. B.Chavan State Open University, Nasik in Maharashtra

and the Rajiv Gandhi Technical University in MadhyaPradesh are covered. In the second phase, EDUSATspacecraft will be used in a semi-operational mode withat least one uplink in each of the 5 spot beams. About100–200 classrooms will be connected in each beam.Two more states and one national institution will becovered. In the third phase, EDUSAT network is ex-pected to become fully operational. ISRO will providetechnical and managerial support in the replication of EDUSAT ground system to manufacturers and serviceproviders. EDUSAT will be able to support about 25–30 uplinks and about 5000 remote terminals per link.While ISRO will provide the space

II IMPLEMENTATION OF SATELLITEPROGRAMME

The proposed satellite will be a communication satel-lite and will be placed in a geostationary orbit. A com-munications satellite is a radio relay station in orbitabove the earth that receives, amplifies, and redirectsanalog and digital signals carried on a specific radiofrequency. Most communications satellites in use todayfor commercial purposes are placed in the geostation-

ary orbit, because of the following advantages:• One satellite can cover almost 1/3 of Earth's sur-

face, offering a reach far more extensive than whatany terrestrial network can achieve.

Education through Satellite Boom for Health Care Sector

1Prof. Bharati R. Hiremath, M.Com. M.Phil, 2Prof. Murgendra B. Wali1Lecturer in M.Com Dept., A. S. Patil College of Commerce (Autonomous), Bijapur, Karnataka (India)

2Lecturer in Commerce, A. S. Patil College of Commerce (Autonomous), Bijapur, Karnataka (India)e-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

International Journal of Systems , Algorithms &

Applications IIII J JJ JSSSSAAAA AAAA

Volume 2, Issue ICTM 2011, February 2012, ISSN Online: 2277-2677 9

ICTM 2011|June 8-9,2011|Hyderabad|India



• Communications require the use of fixed antennas.Since geosynchronous satellites remain stationaryover the same orbital location, users can point theirsatellite dishes in the right direction, without costlytracking activities, making communications reliableand secure.

• GEO satellites are proven, reliable and secure - witha lifespan of 10-15 years.

All communications with a geostationary satelliterequire using an earth station or antenna. Earth Stationsmay be either fixed (installed at a specific location) ormobile for uses such as Satellite News Gathering (SNG)or maritime applications. Antennas range in size, fromlarge telecommunications carrier dishes of 4.5 to 15 me-ters in diameter, to VSAT antennas which can be assmall as under one meter, designed to support servicessuch as Direct to Home TV (DTH) and rural telephony.

The antenna, itself, will generally be connected to equip-ment indoors called an indoor unit (IDU), which thenconnects either to the actual communications devicesbeing used, to a Local Area Network (LAN), or to addi-tional terrestrial network infrastructure (Satellite Basics,2010).According to Green (2004, p.39), the estimatedtotal cost of ownership for a satellite today would bearound $149 – $165 million. The cost breakup is as fol-lows:

• Assuming a satellite purchase price of $100 million• Launch insurance $18-$22 million;

• Present value* of on-orbit insurance over 14 yearlife (PV of $35-$42 million) $22-$27 million(*Assuming 8 per cent cost of money);and

• Operating costs (mid-sized operator) $9-$16 million

We must keep in mind that launching of this dedi-cated satellite will not be an easy task. The reason is thatit will involve number of nations and has to be estab-lished as a joint venture of different nationalities andcultures for a common agenda. This is a huge projectand will involve bout 100 countries or so. Getting themall to agree for this project will be a challenging and in-

timidating task. The other main challenges beforelaunching of this satellite will be-designing of the satel-lite, meeting the recurring and non recurring expenses of satellite, ensuring that the various ground stations are inplace so that communications can be sent and received,and to ensure its effective utilization for health educationpurposes. This is a huge undertaking and it all has to beconceptualized and finalized before anything is physical-ly launched.

III. OPERATIONAL PHASES

Once EDUSAT is commissioned in two months' time itwill initially provide one satellite link per beam, witheach link catering for up to 200 classrooms. When fullyoperational, 25 to 30 satellite links will broadcast toabout 5000 remote terminals. Monday's launch marks

several firsts for India's space programme, says Nair.EDUSAT is India's first satellite dedicated for educa-tion. Others being planned include AGRISAT, to ad-dress the country's agricultural needs, and HEALTH-SAT, for providing telemedicine services. It is alsoGSLV's first operational flight. India will no longer de-pend on Europe's Ariane rockets to launch satellites of up to 2 tonnes, though it will continue to use them forheavier spacecraft.

IV. OBJECTIVESThe objectives of Education Satellite System are to meetthe challenges of number and quality of educationthrough

a. providing effective teachers' training,b. supplementing the curriculum based teaching,c. greater community participation and monitoring,

d. providing access to quality resource persons(higher & professional education),e. strengthening the distance education efforts ini-

tiated by various agencies,f. taking education to every nook & corner of the

country, andg. Providing access to new technologies.

Following are some of the main features and services of the proposed system:• Multimedia• Multicast with provisions of interactivity from all

remotes• Secured access to transmission through registration

and accounting• Educational content archival service

The satellite will offer literacy, enhanced education,training, and enrichment through 5 Ku-band transpond-ers. Pilot projects are being initiated in Maharashtra,Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) andYCMOU (Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open Uni-

versity) have started a joint pilot project on virtual class-room in Maharashtra. The network for Virtual Learningwill start operating from May-June 2004 at about 100Centers. The pilot project will provide health training, of all types, on the network. The VLC (Virtual LearningCentre) network will open a new chapter in learning of various faculties including health.

It typically works as follows:• The Trainer / Expert sit at the YCMOU Nashik hub

studio and take a lesson with the help of Audio Vis-

ual (AV) aids.• The Lesson is seen at the 100 centers spread out inMaharashtra.

• The sessions are interactive - audio at first and videosome months later.

EDUCATIONTHROUGHSATELLITEBOOMFORHEALTHCARESECTORInternational Journal of Systems , Algorithms &






V. INTENDED RESULTSEDUSAT with the 100 virtual learning centres will

enhance the current knowledge of health issues such asdiarrhoea management, breastfeeding, water systems,and many other issues. The benefits of the EDUSATbroadcasts to the Virtual Learning Centre are numerous.It reduces travel and expert-time costs. There is lessonvariation, and the lessons are rich due to audio and visu-al components. Telephone lines are not required becausethe system uses the satellite beam. The training pro-grammes are downloadable, so centres can store pro-grammes on CDs and re-use as required. Centres alsohave the ability to upload to the Nashik hub. This willassist in creating personalized content of training pro-grammes. The transmission is at 8 mbps. Through all of these advantages of the EDUSAT system, education of and interaction among academics, medical students,health professionals, and others in the field will be im-

proved.

VI PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT ANDIMPLEMENTATION

This programme will be managed and implementedwith partnership of the state of Maharashtra, EDUSAT,and the appropriate academics, students, health profes-sionals and others involved in the classes.

VII. PROGRAMME MONITORING ANDEVALUATION

Programme monitoring and evaluation will supervise

technical issues of the EDUSAT system. It will alsomonitor and evaluate the content and the quality of thelessons provided. Possible challenges will be monitoredand evaluated throughout the programme implementa-tion including issues of:

• Credibility - studies using this method of teaching• Number of Students - Also excessive enrolment of

students in certain courses, could create administra-tive problems.

• The physical presence and attention of teachers,which is absent in this case, achieves an influence

far beyond the intellectual knowledge they impart.• Updating course content with changes in syllabus (if

any) may take a lot of time.• Interacting with fellow students also adds to the

knowledge base, which does not happen in this sys-tem.

• The course material, more often than not, may notreach students in time which does create problems.

VIII. HEALTH CARE SECTOR EDUCATIONINFORMATION SHARING, TRAINING AND

AWARENESS FOR MASSESSatellite communication will help medical practi-tioners to join different courses as per their need andconvenience. Kuppuswamy and Pandian (2008) states,“As technologies for data compression and electronic

transmission improve, telemedicine provides new oppor-tunities for strengthening the rural health infrastructure.This could overcome traditional geographical and socialbarriers to obtaining high quality diagnosis and treat-ment. These benefits could be especially great withindeveloping countries, which might be able to train morehealth staff cheaply, and stretch their limited health re-sources by accessing international information and ex-pertise.”

Healthcare today makes extensive use of Infor-mation and Communication Technologies (ICT) and(secured) broadband networks are often used to ex-change medical information like reports and X-ray im-ages. Furthermore care can be extended to mobile pa-tients and to the patient’s homes by using telemonitoringand teleconferencing facilities. The collaboration be-tween health professionals is improved by teleconsulting

and related services. In addition the teaching of studentsand the further education of health professionals benefitfrom real-time transmission of medical interventions andresults like histology specimens.

Lown et al. (1998, p.36) observes, “The latest medi-cal knowledge frequently concerned with tertiary-careproblems may be remote from the needs of those in poorcountries lacking primary health care. The issue of ap-propriate health information gains urgency as non-communicable disease, endemic in rich countries, in-creasingly takes a firm hold in poor countries”. They

further observed that “Women - essential to the upgrad-ing of health care in poor countries - are largely left onthe sidelines. The problem is made more intractable bythe absence of an information chain and an underdevel-oped information culture. How can it be otherwise whenmost medical and nursing students in many poor coun-tries have no textbooks of their own and have little ac-cess to medical magazine.”

The dedicated satellite will help a lot to improve thehealth education scenario organizing virtual occupation-al training programmes/workshops for people living in

remote and rural areas. This measure will help the peo-ple to attend medical training on different aspects. Bythis provision, people will be able to update theirknowledge and skills without going to distant places orpaying a hefty fee. The satellite will also offer a numberof audio-visual training programmes as evident from theobservation of Bontempi et al. (1999, p. 466), “Videoconference via satellite will still be the more feasibleway to handle training for some time because of its ac-cessibility. More and more communities have been ableto take advantage of courses being developed throughout

the world by installing low cost satellite dishes makingcourses available even in remote areas.” Local nursesnormally assist childbirth in rural villages of India. Thesatellite supported SHECs will offer them registrationand provide kits for the safe and healthy delivery of







newborns. The SHECs will also be helpful in maintain-ing the registers and record of births and deaths in ruralcommunities. National and international agencies willuse SHECs to spread and offer health-related services tovia teleconferencing-mode. The satellite support willalso be helpful for developmental and health agencies toshow their films, slides, documentaries and video pro-grammes.

IX. PROVIDING EDUCATION AND TRAINING TOMEDICAL PRACTITIONERS

Smith (1996, p. 18) noted, “There’s a popular mis-conception that rural areas are medically underservedbecause no one really wants to practice there. Physiciansand nurses, the conventional wisdom goes, flee smalltowns at the first opportunity to pursue high-paying jobsin the city. While they may be some truth to this, it is

also true that many providers forsake isolated regionsonly because of limited opportunities to receive theireducations and to practice”. The satellite communicationwill contribute a lot to overcome this problem by provid-ing opportunities for further education and training tomedical practitioners, particularly to those serving inremote and rural areas.

The non-availability of literature to medical practi-tioners is other big challenge in Afro-Asian nations, asobserved by Lown et al. (1998, p.37), “Many medical journals are already posted on the Internet, but we need

new information institutions that are closely tuned to thehealth problems of poor countries. Such tuning requiresa partnership of equals between health professionals of the two worlds, so that the shared information is scientif-ically sound, reliable, pertinent, and affordable.” A satel-lite communication channel will ensure the availabilityof quality health education literature and research tomedical practitioners working in the Afro-Asian region.

X. REGIONAL AND NATIONAL INTERACTIONABOUT HEALTH EDUCATION ISSUES

The data/information about various governmentalprogrammes and schemes related to health education, itsimplementation and progress would be available throughthis technology. The facility of teleconferencing be-tween communities and authorities via satellite will al-low them to discuss about various health issues likehealthy diets, the link between health and physical activ-ity, reducing stress, safe sex behaviour and the adverseeffects of smoking in cost effective and time savingmanner.

The ‘Rural Communities’ will get a boost by useof this technology. The rural communities will be able tocommunicate and interact with administration and mem-

bers of other communities about health education priori-ties and issues. The authorities will be able to monitorthe progress of various health education schemes with-out visiting the community, it will save time and speedup the process. The satellite beams will offer an oppor-

tunity to various national representatives to talk and in-teract frequently with communities over health educa-tion issues by using either teleconferencing or phone-infacility. The communities will be able to put forwardtheir questions and queries directly to the concerned au-thorities. The available facilities will help the communi-ties to assess the status and progress on their complaints

and doubts. The administration will seek feedback andadvice directly from communities to make their conductand health education programmes more responsive. Thecommunication between communities and administra-tion via this satellite network will save time and expeditethe system. The communities will have the opportunityto forward their complaints to higher authorities in caseof non-cooperation from authorities at local and regionallevel. In many ways, the satellite support will ensure theright of health education

XI. HEALTH EDUCATION GUIDANCE AND

COUNSELING SERVICESAt community level, people will get health educa-tion guidance and counseling through SHECs. TheSHECs will provide teleconferencing services for peopleon various health education aspects on regular basis byinviting medical experts. Besides, the list of medicalexperts consisting their contact address and telephonenumbers may also be displayed through SHECs. Thesefacilities will help the people to put their problems,questions and queries before medical experts via tele-conferencing mode to seek their advice.

The SHECs will also provide the list and contact of those voluntary, governmental and non-governmentalorganizations working for the health sector. The peoplewill be able to contact these organizations by using thesatellite support for organizing different health educationprogrammes in their respective communities. TheSHECs will be helpful to educate the local communityabout various health issues and will also have the au-thority to recommend patients to other hospitals for ad-vanced treatment. The centers will arrange online adviceto, counseling of and treatment of patients using the sat-ellite support.

XII. HEALTH DATA BANK OF COMMUNITIESThe SHECs will act as a health data bank of com-

munities. The health details, problems and concerns of people will be put up in e-repository of these centers.This data bank will help the government to assess thehealth education needs of particular region to plan dif-ferent health schemes accordingly. The communitieswill be able to learn about different health education in-formation through SHECs. The SHECs will use availa-ble ICTs like Community Radio and Television tospread this information to the communities. Besides,people may also visit these centers to access Internet for

health information.

The SHECs will be helpful in providing a databaseof health problems and diseases by preparing a databaseof various health issues. These centers will also ensure







the effective and need based implementation of differenthealth-related campaigns run by national and interna-tional agencies (like AIDS awareness and prevention,polio vaccination, birth control).

XIII. HEALTH EDUCATION LEARNING SHARINGPLATFORM

The communities will use SHECs as a ‘health edu-cation learning sharing platform’. These centers willprovide an opportunity for people to share their besthealth education experiences and traditional medicinalknowledge, with fellows from within and outside of thecountry by using ROT and SIT. The coordinators of SHECs will mediate to disseminate the information pro-vided by people by using www, blogs, chat rooms, etc.The satellite support will help to establish a tele-medicine network of institutions and hospitals. The tele-medicine network will be used for number of activitieslike sharing of knowledge among medical professionals,

conduction of on-line training programmes for nurses,paramedical staff and other health workers, etc.

The satellite support will also provide a number of opportunities for Afro-Asian communities to get tele-medical support for their health problems. The SHECswill help the communities to share and respond abouttheir health problems at regional, national and trans-national level. The satellite supported SHECs will bequite helpful in the rural community to assess and im-prove the health of both children and adults. These cen-ters will mediate for people to obtain need based adviceon different health issues by medical experts via ROTand SIT terminals. In nutshell, the satellite support willbe helpful to offer a variety of health education servicesto people.

XIX. POTENTIAL BENEFITS TO MEDICALEDUCATON

In considering the health information needs of de-veloping countries, one can not ignore the essential factthat poverty is the leading cause of poor health acrossthe globe (WHO, 1996). Bandara, (2005, p. 52) ob-serves, “Many of the diseases are closely associated withdietary habits, risky behavior, lack of knowledge, envi-

ronmental pollution and the lack of basic needs such asaccess to clean water and sanitation. Health educationand promotional campaigns appear to be the single mostimportant low-cost disease prevention strategy.”

Continuing education using satellite broadcastingcan improve knowledge and attitudes among publichealth professionals, as observed by Peddecord et al.(2007) in their assessment to participants' professionalcharacteristics and their changes in knowledge, attitudes,and actions taken after viewing a public health prepared-ness training course on mass vaccination broadcast na-

tionally by satellite. They further reported that a substan-

tial percentage of viewers who responded to the follow-up questionnaire reported taking or planning to take rele-vant actions following the broadcast.

This observation aptly supports to Bond and Frie-baum (1993) who claimed that telecommunications havebeen cost-effective in supporting health teams by

providing physician-managers with the ability to super-vise, consult, educate and evaluate the performance of health care workers located in remote communities.Similar results are experienced by the educational com-munity. The ability to convey audio or video infor-mation interactively between any two or more people isbasic to the education process be it within a country orbetween countries, regardless of their locations or degreeof isolation. The information originating some 1000miles from its intended user arrives in real time and canbe responded to in real time.

The launch of ‘Dedicated Satellite for Health Educa-tion’ will be an appropriate and useful step in meetingthe health education needs of the population. This satel-lite will help to overcome health education challenges inAfro-Asian region by strengthening the system thatserves the people and creating a partnership between theproviders and users of health services. This satellite maybe seen as a user-friendly, in-expensive, people-drivenand participation-based technology to support healtheducation in Afro-Asian region. This satellite will helpthe Afro-Asian communities in many ways to overcometheir health education challenges.

XX. CONCLUSIONICTs surely play a very significant role in (a) wide-

ly reaching the people even in the most peripheral anddifficult terrain to effectively communicate and createhealth related awareness, attitude and behavior change,and (b) efficient health information management for bet-ter health planning, programs implementation with im-proved access, efficient delivery, management and time-ly corrective measures to achieve their objectives.” Theproposed satellite has to the capability to fulfill all thesewishes and expectations. Breaking this cycle requires abetter understanding about the root causes of these

health challenges through sharing experiences, researchand strategies and by developing partnerships to scale uphealth interventions in Africa. We can overcome thesechallenges by strengthening the system that serves themand creating a partnership between the providers andusers of these services.

REFERENCES[1] Article: A Dedicated Satellite for meeting health education

needs for afro Asian nations

[2] Article: EDUSAT – the Indian satellite for education.

[3] www.thenational.ae





Education through Satellite Boom for Health Care Sector

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