France is facing an increasingly acute shortage of medical specialists, particularly radiologists, leaving many patients in rural and underserved areas struggling to access timely imaging examinations. With almost 30 million ultrasounds performed each year, the shortage has led to long waiting times and overburdened hospital departments.
To address this challenge, France is turning to innovation — combining robotics and digital health to bring specialist care closer to patients.
Remote ultrasound technology
A strategic partnership between Enovacom, the healthcare subsidiary of Orange Business, and AdEchoTech, creator of MELODY — the world’s first remote-controlled ultrasound robot — is redefining access to medical imaging. Their collaboration provides a secure and practical solution that allows ultrasound examinations to be performed remotely, without the patient needing to travel.
At the centre of this approach is MELODY, a robotic arm that replicates the specialist’s movements with millimetre precision. The system works through two connected stations:
- The Expert Station, where a specialist controls the ultrasound probe in real time, and
- The Patient Station, located in a local medical centre, where the robot performs the scan under the supervision of a nurse, midwife, or radiographer.
Certified by the US FDA, European MDR, and Health Canada, MELODY has already been used in more than 70 sites, performing over 300,000 ultrasounds.
The quality of the images and diagnoses matches that of in-person examinations, as confirmed by both clinical results and participating healthcare institutions.
Secure digital infrastructure: The role of Enovacom
To make remote imaging possible, Enovacom provides the digital backbone through its telehealth platform. It ensures that the ultrasound data is transmitted in real time between the two stations — securely, via a health data–certified (HDS) infrastructure.
This guarantees that radiologists can interpret high-quality images remotely, supporting the work of TMF Santé’s network of expert radiologists, who are already performing thousands of remote examinations.
By 2025, 850,000 tele-ultrasound (TLR) examinations are expected in France, with more than 200 radiologists collaborating on these digital imaging services.
Faster Care, Efficient Workflow
This combination of robotics and digital connectivity creates a win-win model for both patients and healthcare providers.
Patients benefit from faster access to care close to home, while radiologists can perform multiple examinations in different locations during a single session. Hospitals gain efficiency by reducing bottlenecks and logistical costs.
“The solution developed by AdEchoTech makes sense to us in terms of democratising and making healthcare more accessible, particularly medical imaging,” said Lionel Mary, CEO of IDEC Invest Group, which supports the project.
A Model with global potential
This partnership represents more than a technical innovation — it’s a reorganisation of care delivery. As Nicolas Lefebvre, CEO of AdEchoTech, noted, it addresses public health priorities by improving access to care in remote and underserved areas, in France and beyond.
By combining MELODY’s robotic precision with Enovacom’s secure telehealth infrastructure, France is pioneering a scalable model for equitable access to imaging services. What began as a response to the shortage of specialists may soon become an international example of how technology can strengthen healthcare systems — making quality diagnostics available to all, everywhere.
06.11.2025.
