The National Diabetes Policy will amend clauses barring patients from receiving certain treatments, Health Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne said today.

He was reacting to a report by the Ombudsman, which concluded that the government was committing an “injustice” by not providing certain diabetes treatments to patients.

In an investigation report, Ombudsman Joseph Said Pullicino said that Type 2 diabetes patients were not being given Glargine Insulin, which was only being provided for Type 1 patients.

This, the report said, was discriminatory and deprived patients of their entitlement to treatment.

Dr Fearne said the new policy, expected next year, would provide oral medication currently not being provided. The insulin injections would be rolled out in the months that followed, he said.

Meanwhile, the Ombudsman said patients who needed to have their blood sugar levels tested were only being provided with two testing strips when they were meant to be tested at least four times a day. The required four strips were only being given to patients under 18.

This was being done because of protocols set up by the Health Department, which the Ombudsman said might not have been based on purely medical indications but as “a tool to refuse treatment because of financial constraints”.

Asked about this, Dr Fearne said he was not aware of any new protocols being drafted which were not based on medical expertise.

The Ombudsman has proposed a review of the Social Security Act which would ensure that regulations and protocols drawn up by the authorities would be based on purely medical considerations.