A pioneering telemedicine service, Medic4you, aimed at private individuals, has been launched in Romania by telemedicine specialist Medic4all and telecom group Orange. For a monthly fee, individuals will have access to family doctors and, eventually, specialists by phone and video conference, plus the ability to carry out simple cardio tests. Orange and Medic4all have invested €6m in the new venture.

Fabiana Campodonico, the Tele4all project manager for the Romanian venture, says that Orange is selling the subscription package, which costs €20 a month for an annual subscription, in its 100 shops across Romania. This can be supplemented by a Wrist Clinic device which can be bought for €1,029, and which can measure Blood pressure, ECG, Pulse, Cardiac rhythm, Breathing rhythm, Blood oxygen level (SpO2) and Temperature. The Wrist Clinic is also available for use by patients in the Orange shops.

Click here to see how Orange is advertising it on its Romanian website (English language version).

Medic4all, which is domiciled in Switzerland but has its head office in Milan, already has subsidiaries in Italy and Brazil, and is planning to open in Germany. In these countries it works with healthcare insurers, providing an extra service to customers, or with the public sector. Founded in 2001, it is majority owned by Shai Misan. Campodonico was unable to give any sales figures for the company.

Customers can use the service from home or use a dedicated videoconferencing terminal in each Orange shop. Campodonico says that Romania was chosen because access to healthcare professionals is difficult and expensive.

Our Analysis: Others are skeptical about whether Romanians will find telemedicine attractive. Daniel Lynch at 3TS, the 3i subsidiary which bought a 40% stake in CMU Unirea, a private clinic chain catering mainly for multinational employees, said: "Romanians want a physical presence - someone to pat their knee. I can't see this working."

We will be monitoring take up closely over the next year as this is an interesting mass market pilot.