the Medical Box restarts care

When the general practitioner of Cases-de-Pène (Pyrénées-Orientales) decided to close his practice to become an allergist, Théophile Martinez, the mayor of this town of just under 1,000 people, found himself without a treating doctor like many of his constituents. “I had to travel around twenty kilometers round trip to reach the nearest office,” he remembers. I realized that the medical center, like the one in Latour-de-France, was not a solution because the doctors did not necessarily stay there for long. »

Two years ago, at the Salon des Maires in Paris, he discovered the Medical Box, a connected and secure teleconsultation office. Its cost at the time: 60,000 euros. Thanks to 75% aid from the European Union and the community of municipalities, the town hall will have only spent 13,000 euros. And on February 20, 2026, a 15 m² container, placed on a concrete screed and connected to the electricity network, opened, Place des Écoles, in the center of the village.

Connected instruments

“The box is a teleconsultation medical office which allows patients to consult a general practitioner or a specialist, and to benefit from diagnostic tools,” explains Sébastien Touchais, director of operations at the Medical Box, the company which sells and installs this device. “The idea saw the light of day in Bagnols-sur-Cèze, in the Gard, thanks to my partners Élodie Ducos, pharmacist, and Christophe Tichadou, chartered accountant, who looked into the problems of access to health care. The creation of this connected object took two years. »

The process is simple. The patient creates an account on an online platform then makes an appointment. He receives by SMS the time of his consultation as well as a code. This allows him to enter the box. Inside, he goes to the terminal and inserts his Vitale card. He connects to his patient area: the teleconsultation starts and a doctor appears on the screen.

The box includes many connected medical devices: thermometer, blood pressure monitor, stethoscope, oximeter to measure the oxygen level in the blood, otoscope to see the eardrums, and dermatoscope for allergies and moles.

After the appointment, the patient collects the printed prescription. The consultation is billed at 25 euros and reimbursed 100%. Then the box is locked and is disinfected by ultraviolet radiation in order to destroy bacteria according to the same protocol as that in force in operating rooms.

Already a thousand mayors interested

“The advantage of the box is to provide first aid,” assures Bruno Biondini, the mayor of Lamelouze (Gard), 143 inhabitants, who inaugurated the first box in June 2025, because the nearby health center, saturated, was no longer taking patients. “The system is well designed and the data is secure. My administrators are delighted. » And to make things easier for elderly people, a municipal agent accompanies them and shows them how to type their account number on the keyboard and insert the Vitale card into the machine. “It reassures them,” adds the councilor.

In one year, the Medical Box has attracted the interest of no less than a thousand mayors in France. “We already have hundreds of files waiting, as far as New Caledonia and Mayotte,” confides Sébastien Touchais. It takes a month to make a box in Bagnols-sur-Cèze (Gard). Our company has twelve employees and we want to hire around thirty people, for patient support, but also technicians, engineers and health area managers, who supervise the boxes. »

A box is located in Nancy-sur-Cluses, at almost 1,000 m altitude, in Haute-Savoie. Another is being tested in a new district without doctors in Royan (Charente-Maritime). A third is being tested in Denain (North), in front of the hospital center “because at least 10% of the population who go to the emergency room are not eligible and are redirected towards community medicine”, indicates Sébastien Touchais. Furthermore, German and Austrian media have produced reports on the Medical Box, which could be exported. Until then, it will continue to spread across French territory.