pic: apoteket.se
Apoteket AB announced today that it had bought a substantial share in Doctor24, one of the online doctor services that have become so popular over the last few years. Popular because you can actually talk to a doctor from the comfort of your home and not sit in hard chairs getting coughed on by strangers for hours on end – only to be told to take a few aspirin and go home. Sadly, there is no comparison between healthcare centers (vårdcentraler) they way they’re set up now, and your phone.
What makes this news is that Apoteket AB is state-owned. The same state that is trying to limit, tax, tar, feather and drive out of town online doctor services because they are said to drive up healthcare costs by encouraging unnecessary doctor visits. They are too easy to use, it seems.
Ibrahim Baylan, Minister for Business, Industry and Innovation and responsible for questions regarding state-owned businesses, passed on commenting more than saying that Apotek AB makes its own decisions: “It’s the company’s board that is responsible for the operation of the company. The decision to invest in Doctor24 is an operative decision that has been made by Apotek’s board” Baylan told SvD.
Anna Starbrink, healthcare councilperson for Stockholm, is seeing red. In an comment to SvD, she said “When we go to an Apotek now, we’re encouraged to turn to Doctor24 to renew our prescriptions. And then the bill for 500 kronor goes to taxpayers.”
“We’re supposed to prioritize the patients with greatest need, and here we have to pay online doctors for something that is already part of the regular care system. It fuels an unnecessary extra cost” she added.
But Tobias Perdahl, chief medical officer at Doctor24 put his finger on the problem. “She’s basically right” he said. “This should be easily covered by the regular care system. But it’s common that it takes days or weeks to renew a prescription. A patient without a prescription is a big problem.”
Anna Starbrink is looking to start a larger debate, SvD reports. ” We don’t accept that a healthcare provider owns a pharmacy – and the question is whether or not a pharmacy should be allowed to own a healthcare provider. What the effect will be is an important question and needs to be looked at.”
(PS. Apotek AB should not be confused with the other private Apotek chains like Apotek Hjärta, Apotek Lejon, etc.)