Covid-19: Canton of Bern commissions Hirslanden with implementing repeat testing

The Swiss government assumes that over half of all Covid-19 transmissions originate from asymptomatic people and so has decided to adopt an expanded testing strategy. Even people without symptoms should thus be tested repeatedly. The focus is on user-friendly PCR saliva tests, which are superior to rapid antigen tests in terms of sensitivity when testing asymptomatic individuals.

As a Swiss national healthcare provider, the Hirslanden Group, together with public and private partners, offers integrated healthcare along the entire life course, the so-called continuum of care. Alongside prevention, counselling, therapy and after-care, this also involves medical diagnostics, which include preventative repeat testing.

Hirslanden uses the IT platform developed by the Group to handle all of the processes involved in repeat testing and arranges all of the necessary deliveries of goods and services for the partner companies involved (laboratory institutes, logistics or material service providers).

Repeat testing offers a further way to reduce the spread of the Covid-19 virus, alongside abiding by hygiene and social distancing rules, contact tracing, and the Covid-19 vaccine.

Daniel Liedtke, CEO of the Hirslanden Group, says: "I am pleased that we will be able to support voluntary, preventive testing in the canton of Bern in the future. At the same time, I would like to thank our Beau-Site hospitals, Permanence and Salem-Spital in Bern as well as Klinik Linde in Biel for their commitment to the care of Covid-19 patients in the region."

About Hirslanden

The Hirslanden Group operates 17 hospitals in 10 cantons, many of which have an emergency department. It also operates 4 outpatient surgical units, 17 radiology institutes and 5 radiotherapy institutes. Together with public and private cooperation partners, Hirslanden focuses on the continuum of care and the promoting of high-quality, responsible, personalised and efficiently integrated healthcare. The Group has 2 506 partner doctors and 10 417 employees, 498 of whom are permanently employed doctors. Hirslanden is the largest medical network in Switzerland. In the 2019/20 financial year, the Group generated turnover of CHF 1 804 million. As at 31.3.2020, the Group had treated 107 491 patients, amounting to a total of 471 717 inpatient days. In insurance terms, the patient mix consists of 49.2% basic, 29.3% semi-private, and 21.5% private insured patients.

Hirslanden is synonymous with first-class medical care provided by highly qualified medical specialists with many years of experience. As a system provider, the Group stands out from the rest of the market: interdisciplinary medical centres of expertise and specialised institutes enable it to offer the best possible individualised treatment, even in highly complex cases. The Hirslanden Group was formed in 1990 through the merger of several hospitals. Since 2007, it has been part of the international hospital group Mediclinic International plc, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange.