Help Ifakara NOW!
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Dear Colleagues,
Today we received the terrible news that our e-mail link is to be cut from
tomorrow (16/04/97). Below is the notice we received. We would very much
appreciate your support in lobbying Mr. Reed Hunt via John Mullaney (see
below) to ensure the decision is reverted. Even a short message will make
an impression. Please emphasise the importance of the e-mail link in our
continued collaboration and the nature of our work, i.e. health research
and development in less developed countries.
Please copy this message to anyone else who appreciates the importance of
this link and will send a message.
Many thanks.
Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre - Ifakara / Tanzania
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Copy of the Message:
URGENT URGENT URGENT
Dear HealthSat-2 User,
The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has officially
informed us that we must terminate operations on HealthSat-2 at 21:00 UTC
on Wednesday April 16th. The FCC has licensed an organization called VITA
for the frequencies that are in use by HealthSat-2, and has demanded that
we cease operations world-wide to avoid interference with their satellite
VITASAT-1R due to be launched on Thursday morning. Until now, SatelLife has
been allowed to utilize these frequencies, first licensed by the Canadian
Government and in collaboration with Memorial University in Canada, and
then, in the United States on a research license. Because of our
demonstrated success in providing humanitarian service in the public
interest, we did not anticipate such drastic action from the FCC and VITA.
The FCC is actively considering our urgent request to amend the license to
allow us to operate on the condition that we do not interfere with
VITASAT-1R, and we expect a favourable determination sometime in the 10
days following the shutdown. During this time period, the transmitters and
receivers of HealthSat-2 will not be active but we will provide you with
updated information by April 25, 1997.
We STRONGLY encourage you to write a letter to Mr. Reed Hunt, Chairman of
the Federal Communications Commission, with a copy to SatelLife's founder
and chairman, Dr. Bernard Lown. Please email us this letter IMMEDIATELY for
it to reach us before the satellite is shut down. In this letter please
outline how essential the communications that HealthSat-2 provides are to
your work, and the lack of information for essential health care that would
ensue without access to it. We will ensure that they are delivered to the
FCC.
We strongly apologize for this sequence of events that is out of our
control. We would like to assure you that we are committed to providing you
with the means to communicate and obtain the information you need to do
your jobs well.
Sincerely,
John Mullaney
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John Mullaney
Executive Director
SatelLife
1360 Soldiers Field Road
Boston, MA 02135
Tel. +1-617-789-5455
mailto:jmullaney@usa.healthnet.org
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