The Health Ministry is “positively” considering increasing the number of free glucose testing strips given to type 1 diabetics as this “would improve self-monitoring”, a ministry spokesman said.
“This is, however, being evaluated within the context of a holistic diabetes framework strategy,” the spokesman said, adding that the Labour Party’s electoral manifesto spoke about improving services for diabetics.
Last Monday The Times reported that a recent study, published in the Malta Medical Journal, concluded that the health authorities would ultimately save money by doubling the number of free glucose testing strips.
As things stand, type 1 diabetes patients get 50 free testing strips every 28 days but they are, ideally, required to test themselves at least four times a day. This would require 112 strips over 28 days, Nancy Formosa outlined in her paper that looked at the blood glucose monitoring in children and adolescents.
She pointed out that buying the extra strips placed a financial burden on some families as these cost about €30 per pack of 50 strips.
“Such a change in free glucose test-strip entitlement would increase the cost for the Department of Health from 57c per patient per day to €1.28 per patient per day, but the financial savings from a reduction of longer-term diabetes-related complications… in terms of provisions of healthcare and social services would be incalculable,” Dr Formosa wrote.
The Malta Diabetes Association has long been calling for more free strips. It is also lobbying to have free strips for all diabetics including type 2 sufferers as this would improve self-monitoring across the board.
Self-monitoring of blood glucose helps to adjust therapy and assess the responses to therapy. Patients can themselves immediately assess the impact of an action on their blood glucose level and take prompt action to counteract it.
Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin (type 1), a hormone that regulates blood sugar, or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces (type 2).