“Let's say my doctor is nice.
»Still half sweating, Laurent leaves his gym in the 17th arrondissement of the capital.
This 43-year-old Parisian, bank employee, has just spent an hour between rower and treadmill before heading to his apartment to telecommute.
“We meet with colleagues, it gives us a friendly moment of sport before work, slips the frame.
My attending physician gave me a prescription.
But I'll be blunt: this is clearly a certificate of convenience.
"
Again closed to the general public since September or October depending on the department, fitness rooms, such as swimming pools or climbing rooms, have the right to accommodate people with a medical prescription for appropriate physical activity (APA ).
In theory, doctors should only grant it to people with chronic illnesses whose condition requires regular sports practice, supervised by a certified educator.
In fact, some rooms are not very picky.
"Unfair competition between sports halls"
“I accept a simple medical certificate, loose Frédéric
(the first name has been changed)
, manager of a fitness club in the Lyon area.
It's not square, I know, but let's say either that's it, or I'm going to lose a client who will go to another room who will say yes.
And right now, I need the money.
As a room manager, the Covid-19 hurt us very badly.
"
"In urban areas, we are witnessing unfair competition between sports halls," describes the vice-president of the France Active FNEAPL union, Guillaume Schroll, who represents business leaders in the sector.
Some take advantage of this rule to refuel.
"
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We were able to verify it for ourselves. First step, a videoconference appointment with a random doctor. The author of these lines lives in the Paris region, the practitioner on the other side of the screen in the Gard. Without a clinical examination, he issues us a simple certificate for alleged back pain. In the absence of APA, two of the four theaters in the Paris region that we requested refused our registration. Two others have validated it. “In video, I was able to get prescribed an APA, loose Julie, Rennaise 53 years. The doctor was OK to validate me for non-existent diabetes so that I could go back to swimming in the pool. "
"It shows how many unregulated teleconsultations open the door to abuses, they should be limited to the attending physician," replies the president of the Confederation of French medical unions, Jean-Paul Ortiz.
Granting an APA prescription like that is not good medical practice.
There is an increase in these kinds of requests, without it being the rush either.
"" It is difficult for room managers to verify the validity of the prescription, slips Guillaume Schroll.
We cannot ask to break medical confidentiality like that.
"
Police checks
But in the absence of being able to question the APA prescriptions, the police carry out regular checks in the rooms to verify that each customer harnessed to lifting cast iron has the right to be there. At the beginning of April, a police raid was carried out in several sports halls in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône): 23 people were fined for not being able to present proof, two establishments were targeted by a formal notice and one last suffered an administrative closure of 15 days.
"Our profession is in difficulty, but we have a legalistic position and have explained to our members what the law allowed or not," describes Guillaume Schroll. Afterwards, it is believed that sport should not be reserved for certain people. And we hope to quickly see the end of the tunnel. For now, the sector hopes to be able to reopen its doors to the general public in June.