The Monoprix telemedicine cabin in downtown Toulouse makes the order of doctors cough
A telemedicine cabin, installed in the Monoprix on rue Alsace Lorraine in Toulouse for several months, has aroused the anger of the Departmental Council of the Order of Doctors of Haute-Garonne.
Discreetly placed between the make-up department and that of well-being, a medical teleconsultation cabin has taken up residence in the Monoprix on rue Alsace-Lorraine in Toulouse for a year now. The use is simple. After presenting his Vitale card, the patient has “access to a general practitioner remotely, without an appointment, in less than 15 minutes”. In any case, this is what the poster on the door of the device promises. Inside, a thermometer, a blood pressure monitor, or even a stethoscope… A whole host of connected medical instruments are made available to the patient and allow information on the latter’s state of health to be sent to the practitioner. he consults through interposed cameras. At the end of this improvised appointment, the general practitioner can, if necessary, issue a prescription.
This “innovative approach” of the Monoprix brand, whose objective is “to facilitate access to care” for its customers, did not escape the wrath of the Departmental Council of the College of Physicians of Haute- Garonne, which opposes the practice of telemedicine. And all the more so when the latter interferes in supermarkets.
The installation of the first booths, in April 2021, in Monoprix stores in Paris and Troyes sparked controversy. The National Council of the Order of Physicians had, in a press release published on its website, denounced this initiative.
“It’s a purely economic offer”
“It is not a course of care and health, it is a purely economic offer. There is no medical secret […] It is a consumer good. We doctors have to respond to a health need. Many people go there to obtain a work stoppage, without meeting their doctor”, annoys Stéphane Oustric, the president of the Council of the Order of Doctors of Haute-Garonne. “It is not regulated by the State. We ask that it be supervised, that there be authorizations put in place by the Regional Health Agency”, he affirms.
In its defense, Monoprix assures that this cabin “is absolutely not intended to replace a face-to-face consultation or to promote a unique model in the exercise of the medical art”. “Customers appreciate this local service, in addition to their attending physician, in particular for prescription renewals, obtaining a medical certificate for sports practice or even taking their blood pressure”, retorts the distribution brand. .
The withdrawal of this controversial device is, for the time being, not accepted. Monoprix, on the other hand, says it does not want to have more telemedicine cabins in its convenience stores.