Post is on a shopping spree again
Yellow giant makes red heads
Swiss Post wants to play an important role in electronic patient dossiers. The fact that the group is expanding into more and more business areas and that it competes with private companies as a state-owned company is met with criticism. Not for the first time.
Swiss Post is still on a shopping spree. After the yellow giant companies and bookkeeping providers and even accepted a lawsuit for it, he now wants to play a leading role as a technology partner in the electronic patient dossier. The state-owned company would like to take over a majority stake in Axsana, a provider of electronic patient records. The deal is expected to go through at the end of September.
But it could be a stillbirth: To date, the electronic patient dossier has not been able to establish itself. Swisscom, which previously supported Axsana’s services, has now left. Nevertheless, the electronic patient dossier could be the standard in the future: doctor’s reports, X-rays, medication plans – everything should be stored in it. It’s highly sensitive data.
“It already fails in its core business”
The fact that Swiss Post once again wants to expand into new business areas has met with heavy criticism, especially in middle-class circles. Middle President Gerhard Pfister (59) chooses clear words. Swiss Post believes it can do better than Swisscom, he scoffs on Twitter. “It already fails in its core business.” In addition: Pfister estimates that the profit would go to Axsana, “the taxpayers will assume the risks”.
Assault on Levrat and Sommaruga
The SVP parliamentary group leader Thomas Aeschi (43) sees it similarly. On Twitter, he aims in advance at the political competition and criticizes the former SP President and current Post President of the Board of Directors Christian Levrat (52), as well as Post Minister Simonetta Sommaruga (62) and Minister of Health Alain Berset (50). “Instead of renovating the post office, new adventures,” comments Aeschi. “Where is a clear ownership strategy on the part of the Federal Council?”
FDP Councilor of States Andrea Caroni (42) is also annoyed Radio SRF about the fact that the post “spreads like an octopus”. Unlike SP National Councilor Jon Pult (37): He speaks to the broadcaster of “digital public service”. He is convinced: “It would be good for Switzerland if Swiss Post, as a public company, had control over such sensitive information.”
cover losses in basic services
Swiss Post itself explains its economic advances with its mandate to provide basic services. Because this has to be done without subsidies, the group has to cover losses there with profits on the open market.
The commoners cannot be convinced of this. They want to set limits on Swiss Post’s shopping spree in the areas of IT, logistics and even . Parliament recently decided that state-owned companies such as Post or SBB should be restricted. However, it is still unclear exactly how this is supposed to work.