Analysis and measurement of pressure? At the bank

Strong misgivings on the part of Utifar about the initiative of the Bnl-Bnp Paribas banking group, which is preparing to offer the public, within its branches, self-analysis services and other top-level services such as blood pressure measurement, impedance test and remote electrocardiogram.

Eugene Leopardi, president of the Italian Pharmacists Technical Union, underlines that, “As a scientific society, we must stigmatize this initiative because it leaves the citizen alone in the face of difficult-to-interpret data concerning the most delicate of individual fields: health. We are aware that technology provides easy-to-use telemedicine services and we are equally aware that self-analysis is, by definition, a diagnostic approach that citizens can carry out autonomously. However, the delicate issue, which requires the intermediation of a healthcare professional, is not so much the execution of the test, but the correct understanding of the results. Leaving citizens alone in front of this data, inside a bank, is a dangerous stretch, above all in terms of health”.

Leopardi points out that, in these days, Italian pharmacies are offering a free blood sugar measurement service as part of the DiaDay initiative. This is a diabetes prevention campaign that is achieving great results and has already made it possible to identify people at high risk who have been immediately referred to a doctor. “The great added value of the pharmacy, in offering these services, is that the citizen can immediately deal with the pharmacist in a prepared and appropriate environment. The pharmacist's advice, his help in interpreting the results, information on correct lifestyles and much more represent the real service that pharmacists offer citizens on a daily basis. Without this support, self-diagnosis services cannot be useful and, indeed, risk being harmful".

Rispetto all’iniziativa di Bnl-Bnp Parisbas, Leopardi sottolinea la forte incongruenza da parte dell’istituto bancario. “Da un lato, si cerca di tenere il cliente delle banche sempre più lontano dalle filiali, favorendo i servizi di home banking e incentivando le operazioni a casa o al bancomat. Dall’altro lato si propongono servizi come questo, non attinenti al ruolo delle banche, per riportare il cliente in filiale. Forse – conclude Leopardi – qualcuno dovrebbe fare chiarezza al proprio interno, prima di proporre servizi per nulla attinenti alle proprie funzioni”.