Four questions for the expert: Go to the pharmacist instead of the doctor; this saves you money

You may also resort to them with tears, cuts and lacerations, tick bites, burns, or sprains. The most common vaccines are available at most pharmacies. Your employees perform heart and lung examinations and give advice to smokers who want to quit smoking or men who have erection problems. Many pharmacies offer blood tests evaluated on-site or by an outside laboratory using laboratory equipment. Von Wartburg says the best way to find out which of the approximately 2,000 pharmacies in Switzerland offers services is online or by phone. He recommends that everyone have a regular pharmacy. “This means that specialist staff have general knowledge of all treatments and medication intakes and can therefore give customers the best and fastest advice.”

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How much a treatment costs varies from pharmacy to pharmacy. Von Wartburg says it’s always cheaper than going to the doctor. A look at Amavita’s website shows that the chain charges 10 francs for a 10-minute urine test, for example. The fee for a 10-15 minute skin check with an external dermatologist is 65 francs. Customers must bear all costs unless additional insurance is involved. This is useful for people whose basic insurance only pays if the amount exceeds 2,500 francs due to the highest deductible. Even those who buy drugs without a prescription, for which basic or additional insurance would actually add to the cost, pay out of their own pocket. However, you can then get a prescription and it will be reimbursed by the insurance company, minus the deductible.

Since the beginning of 2019, some List B medicines have become easier to distribute. These include a number of medicines, such as the painkiller ibuprofen, which can now also be distributed in tablets containing a high dose of 600 mg. Sildenafil, known to most people by the trade name Viagra, is one of the other active ingredients that can be purchased from pharmacies without a doctor’s prescription. Von Wartburg says this has been met with great interest. “Many men are still embarrassed to go to the doctor in this situation.” But what is very important is this: “Pharmacists complete five years of training and at least two years of advanced training. You can easily evaluate whether the patient is tolerant to the medication and whether he needs the medication. Otherwise, it will not be given and the customer may be referred to the doctor.”