Low Earth Orbit Communication Satellites – A Positively Disruptive Technology Which Could Change the Delivery of Healthcare in Rural and Northern Canada (Preprint)

Abstract

UNSTRUCTURED Canada is a progressive nation which endeavours to provide comprehensive, universal, and portable healthcare to all its citizens. This is a challenge for a country which has a population of 38 million living within a land expanse of 10 million km2 and where 18% are living in rural or extremely remote locations. The combined population of Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut is only 128,959 living within 3.92 million km2 and many of these citizens live in isolated communities with unique health needs and social issues. The current solutions to providing healthcare in the most remote locations have been to transport the patient to the healthcare provider or vice versa, which incurs considerable financial strain on our healthcare system and personal stress to the patient and provider. The recent deployment of Low Earth Orbit communication satellites (LEO-ComSats) globally will change the practice and availability of virtual medicine everywhere in the world, especially northern Canada. The deployment of LEO-ComSats could result in disruptive but positive changes in medical care for underserved communities in remote geographic locations across Canada. LEO-ComSats can be used to demonstrate the utility of virtual medical encounters between a patient and a doctor in Canada separated by thousands of kilometers. Most certainly the academic medical centers in lower Canada could perform virtual tele-mentored medical care to our northern communities in a manner similar to the virtual care provided to many Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic.