This was brought up yesterday in the German news, and the hint by the news media is that it'll be in a draft form handed out this week, and voted upon next week. In simple terms, it took them about six weeks to realize ending the former 'free' test program was stupid. However, there are so many investigations going on fraud within the 'free' test program around the nation....they can't dare allow it to come back to the private enterprise people.
I should note....this is not the PCR test, but the cheaper 'quickie-tests' (usually results are given within 15 minutes. Accuracy? Well...it's not as good as the PCR test, if you were wondering.
So the present discussion is....'we' (the government) would allow pharmacy operations to conduct the 'quickie' test program (getting paid for their services by the government).
Problems? Literally dozens.
Space in pharmacies for this added service? My village has one single pharmacy, and it's rather small. At the present, they allow only two customers into the structure at a time (because of Covid spacing rules). Putting some temp structure up in front of the place? They have only four parking spots....so I don't see them being that willing to take away their parking for an external 'tent-like' test center.
The thirty-odd pharmacies in Wiesbaden? From the five or six I've ever strolled into....there might be one with enough space for a testing area.
Manpower? It's simply not there. They'd have to go out and hire at least three or four temp-workers to conduct the tests.
Potential for fraud like the commercial test-centers were doing? Well....yeah, in six months....I would anticipate dozens of pharmacies to be brought in and accused of illegal 'gain'.
Were the commercial testing-centers making an obscene amount of money? At the rate of 18 Euro per test, for just fifty residents being tested....the center was pulling in 900 Euro per day. The structure, the rent, the utilities, and the tests? It probably added up to around 300 Euro a day in cost. So you made 500 Euro a day, or in a seven day period....nearly 3,500 Euro. A month? 14,000 Euro. You can figure the chief, and two assistants split the money up. In my village, the one gal was working Monday through Friday with about 55 man-hours, and three folks splitting up the weekend shifts. If you were doing 100 residents a day....your take-home had to be nearly 28,000 Euro for the month as the full profit.
The computerized programing like the commercial test-centers had? You could log on....get an appointment, and an email to confirm in less than 90 seconds. Do the pharmacy operations have the software app ready to go? I seriously doubt.
The possibility that ten-percent of the pharmacies around the nation will just refuse to do the job? That wouldn't surprise.
At it's peak, at least in the Wiesbaden area (283k residents), there were probably twenty-five test-centers. I had one in my village (outskirts of town) and the one gal who ran it....probably tested on an average of forty to sixty people everyday. One morning, I showed up 20 minutes before the door opened, and there were already three people standing there ahead of me, and as I left....there was a wedding party of folks....maybe twenty of them...lined up. The village center probably did a hundred people easily that day.
What I suspect will happen? At some point early on....the pharmacy operations will just openly admit this is way more than they can handle. So an exception will be written.....the commercial test centers will be allowed to operate, but they will be handed 'tokens' of some type when the customer walks through the door, which you can only get via a pharmacy. The pharmacies themselves will be the point of registering people, and taking the money from the government....paying the commercial test-centers their 'cut' of the money. All of this....to prevent fraud....of course.
Comical, but it's the only way this whole mess can work.
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