Sick animals can now be followed by their veterinarian via teleconsultation, according to a decree published this Wednesday in the Official Journal. Considered since 2016 by caregivers, the implementation of the system has been accelerated by the epidemic of coronavirus. Experienced for 18 months, the system "will allow veterinarians located in particular in rural areas to ensure close monitoring of animals by avoiding certain movements," said the Ministry of Agriculture, in a statement.
Press release 📢 | Veterinarians authorized to use telemedicine in the exercise of their profession https://t.co/1yTZpCBOdc
- Ministry of Agriculture and Food (@Agri_Gouv) May 6, 2020One of the objectives is “to reduce inter-personal contacts during the day (…) by only carrying out essential, urgent acts, those which consist in caring for a sick animal”, adds Jacques Guérin, president of the national council of the 'order of veterinarians.
Useful in some rural areas
Another objective of this teleconsultation is to combat the consequences of veterinary deserts, which affect certain rural regions in the same way as medical deserts. "When you have a veterinarian in a medical desertification area who, to get to the bedside of the animal, has to drive an hour, it can be useful to know if this movement is necessary or not", continues Jacques Guérin.
In addition to the possibility of setting up teleconsultation, the decree secures other telemedicine practices that are developing, by providing them with a regulatory framework. Like telemonitoring, which allows a veterinarian to remotely monitor, via tools fitted with sensors, the development of the health status of a farm. An evaluation report of this experiment will be produced at the end of 2021.
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