Should Doctolib list alternative medicine practitioners? After being accused several times over the weekend of promoting alternative medicine, the platform responded to criticism of it on Sunday August 21, in a series of tweets. “97% of practitioners who use Doctolib are referenced with the Ministry of Health”claimed the application, specifying that only 3% of its users were in “the field of well-being or medico-social”. “Their activity is legal but they are of course not health professionals. The (appointments) with these practitioners represent 0.3% of all (appointments) taken on Doctolib”also specified the platform.
This weekend, several Internet users denounced the presence of alternative medicine practitioners on the platform.
Found on the site of a naturopath who promotes urinotherapy and who sells his services on doctolib.
(NB: it’s not Tal Schaller)https://t.co/Ud9QgDXDvb pic.twitter.com/jZjkStvIty— Tristan Mendes France (@tristanmf) August 20, 2022
the lecturer and member of the observatory of conspiracy Tristan Mendès France deplored on Twitter having found a practitioner promoting “urinotherapy” on the app. This unrecognized practice consists of drinking part of one’s urine in order to maintain one’s health or treat oneself.
Hello, for clear information, the pages of the practitioners you refer to bear several times, and from the top of the page, the mention: “This practitioner exercises an unregulated profession.”
— Doctolib (@doctolib) August 19, 2022
A user also questioned the platform on Twitter on Friday, surprised to find a naturopath on Doctolib – unconventional practice for therapeutic purposes that claims to balance the functioning of the body by means deemed “natural” –. The application immediately responded that these pages “bear several times, and from the top of the page, the mention: ‘This practitioner exercises an unregulated profession.'”
“We would like to point out that it is impossible for a patient to make an (appointment) on Doctolib with a practitioner not referenced by the Ministry of Health without having expressly sought to do so”added the application, specifying that it would carry out verifications concerning the practitioners “whose actions would be dangerous or punishable by law” and who would have been the subject of reports on social networks.
Faced with these criticisms, the CEO of Doctolib Stanislas Niox-Chateau also defended himself on Monday, questioned by the newspaper Le Parisien: “The demand is there. It is not up to us to say whether these activities are effective or useful. They are legal, so we have no reason to prevent practitioners from being registered on our site”.
Since 2013, the health appointment booking platform has listed health professionals whose activity is recognized by the Public Health Code. Certified psychologists and osteopaths by the Regional Health Agencies, are also present on the platform, as well as professionals who come under the “welfare”explained the boss of Doctolib, still at Parisian.