Germany - Health care

"East is East and West is West" - or so the peoples of Germany might have thought until that great day seven years ago when the Wall crumbled. How is medicine faring in reunified Germany? Health care consumes 10%of the immense gross national product, and the quality of clinical services attracts little public criticism. How odd then that this prosperous nation, with its great scientific tradition and its strong commitment to research and development, is said to occupy a humble place in the international league for clinical research. Is the criticism fair? Clinical research is a big theme in this Country Profile, for which The Lancet's able guide was Prof Wilfried Lorenz of Marburg.