Paratus Connects 170 Murang’a Clinics with Starlink

In Short

• Murang’a County has launched a large public digital healthcare rollout covering 170 health facilities.
• The project uses Paratus Essential Access with Starlink satellite internet.
• The county says the system supports telemedicine visits, digital health reporting, and faster referrals.

What Happened

Paratus, through Paratus, says it has connected 170 public health facilities in Murang’a County using its Paratus Essential Access service, powered by Starlink satellite connectivity. The launch took place on May 28, 2026.

The county describes this as Kenya’s largest public digital healthcare initiative. It targets about 1.2 million residents, many in rural areas where clinics often struggle with reliable internet.

The rollout combines telemedicine, which is remote doctor consultations over video or voice, with digital health reporting. Patients can visit a nearby clinic or dispensary and speak to specialist clinicians through a central telemedicine hub, instead of travelling to bigger hospitals.

Community Health Promoters can also submit healthcare data digitally from the field. That can speed up disease surveillance, meaning officials can spot and track outbreaks sooner because reports arrive in near real time.

Paratus said the programme grew from a pilot that connected 35 facilities and was judged successful by the end of 2025. The county plans to add 302 more public facilities before the end of 2026. The telemedicine hub has 15 doctors and is expected to handle about 450 to 600 patients per day.

Why It Matters

Connectivity is often the hidden blocker in scaling digital health. Satellite internet can help where fibre and mobile coverage are weak, although it can be costly and needs stable power.

For county governments, this kind of project is also a test of operational readiness. Digital health records, lab result uploads, and referral workflows only improve outcomes if staff adoption, data quality, and patient privacy controls are strong.

If Murang’a’s model holds up at 472 facilities, it could become a reference point for other African public health systems trying to expand telemedicine and routine reporting beyond urban hospitals.