Klaus Reinhardt, President of the German Medical Association (Bundesärztekammer), has issued a warning against health checks being planned in drugstore chains. Reinhardt stated to the newspapers of the Funke Media Group that “diagnostics have no place in a drugstore. I consider this absolute nonsense, and in some cases, even dangerous.” The drugstore chain aims to expand its health offerings and plans to provide cardiovascular checks in its stores later this year, utilizing sensors to record various vital signs.
Reinhardt’s main criticism centers on the inability to properly interpret measurement results without a proper medical history consultation. He questioned what happens when a person obtains a result-for a fee of 15 or 20 euros-without a detailed consultation, leaving them without professional interpretation. This, he argues, has nothing to do with quality medical care.
He stressed that an actual physician must take into account personal background and other factors when assessing risk. For instance, if a 35-year-old patient came to a doctor and mentioned that both his father and grandfather had heart attacks in their early 50s, the doctor could contextualize this with the patient’s history, symptoms, and further tests. Reinhardt points out that these types of offerings lack this crucial individualized evaluation, which he labels as “de-professionalization.”
Even if such a check identifies a potential risk and subsequently advises the patient to see a doctor, Reinhardt sees no benefit in the practice. He argues that a patient who wants to clarify a health risk can simply go directly to a doctor without needing the intermediary step of visiting a drugstore.
Currently, dm already provides various other health services, including skin and blood analyses, as well as eye screenings in select locations. However, the eye screening service is facing a lawsuit from the Wettbewerbszentrale (Competition Central Agency).
