The 130th German Medical Congress 2026 calls on legislators to prevent medical diagnostics in drugstores and other commercial enterprises. The aim is to protect the health and safety of patients.

The board of the German Medical Association justified the motion for a resolution by saying that such offers only provide isolated snapshots without a medical context. This can unnecessarily unsettle people or lull them into a false sense of security, dangerously delaying necessary treatments or leading to unnecessary additional doctor’s appointments.

Medical treatment goes far beyond reading individual measured values. Responsible diagnostics include anamnesis, physical examination, differential diagnostic considerations and, if necessary, joint decision on therapeutic measures. None of this could be provided by medical diagnostic services in commercial enterprises. There is a risk of commercialisation of medical diagnostics without sufficient indications.

The Ärztetag also pointed out that these new health service models are neither prepared in terms of personnel nor space for medical emergencies such as circulatory collapses or acute complications. Medical practices, on the other hand, offer a safe environment for competent, confidential and empathetic advice and treatment, which is also secured by professional regulations.

The decision underlines the position of the medical self-administration that diagnostics should not be an end in itself and not a consumable service without specialist embedding, but must always be part of an overall treatment process.

Editor: X-Press Journalistenbüro GbR

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