France’s national rail company SNCF has partnered with medical firm Loxamed to set up mobile Covid-19 testing kiosks at rail stations across the country.
The first ‘Mobiltest’ centres were set up this morning in Paris, situated in the forecourts of Gare de Lyon and Gare de l’Est. The initiative will be rolled out at Gare de Marseille Saint-Charles and Gare de Bordeaux Saint-Jean on November 12, followed by Gare de Rennes on November 18.
The centres will be open from Monday to Saturday, with medical professionals able to test up to 200 people per day. The PCR tests will be free-of-charge and customers will need to pre-book an appointment on the Loxamed website.
The morning appointments will be reserved for people experiencing Covid-19 symptoms or those who have been in contact with people who have tested positive. The centres will then open up to everyone in the afternoon. Customers will receive the test results within 24-72 hours.
Customers who test negative will receive a text asking them to check their result on the TeleDok healthcare platform, while those who test positive will receive a call from a doctor who will advise them on medical care.
Loxamed created the kiosks with its partners Axamed, Teledok, PMSM, and laboratories Biogroup and Eurofins. The testing kiosks have been approved by the Agence Regionale de Sante. The kiosks will be in place for at least six months.
If the partnership proves successful, the initiative might be rolled out at further locations across France, according to Marlène Dolveck, CEO of SNCF.
Arnaud Molinié, CEO of Loxamed, commented:
“As stated by the French President, we must innovate. That’s what we’re doing by rolling out mobile testing kiosks in Paris, Rennes, Marseille and Bordeaux. The SNCF stations are located in the heart of our cities throughout France. They are lively transit spaces, allowing people to travel quickly to the kiosks to get tested.”
