Diabetics who needed regular insulin injections were being forced to get by with needles usually used by children, as the eight-millimetre ones for adults were out of stock, Times of Malta was told.
The patients who require the needles – normally used with injection pens to deliver injectable medication into the body – are being told the eight-millimetre needles are unavailable. They have not been informed when they will be available again.
Staff at Mater Dei Hospital's outpatients’ pharmacy confirmed yesterday the needles were not available. Instead, patients were being given the smaller needles.
Private pharmacies said that although diabetics could get the adult needles under the Pharmacy of Your Choice scheme, they were presently unavailable. However, the needles could be purchased for about €15 per box, each containing 100 needles.
However, a spokeswoman for the Health Ministry denied that the needles were out of stock, insisting that both the eight-millimetre and the six-millimetre versions were available.
“The eight-millimetre needles were temporarily withheld as the Central Procurement and Supplies Unit investigated two remarks from patients that [they] were ‘different’ from previous ones.
“The investigation, completed on February 1, concluded that the eight-millimetre needles in stock were as per specifications,” the spokeswoman added.
According to the International Diabetes Federation, 10.1 per cent of people aged 20 to 79 in Malta are diabetic, a rate that is among the highest in Europe.
World Health Organisation data estimates that the number of patients in Malta suffering from diabetes will grow from 39,000 in 2000 to an alarming 57,000 by the year 2030.
A report by the University of Malta published in December showed that each diabetic person’s care costs €1,887 annually, a health burden of about €29 million a year. That annual bill is close to 12 per cent of the annual salary of a person receiving an average wage in Malta.
Last year, the government launched a national strategy for diabetes aimed at implementing measures that prevented the disease and also expanding treatment options and improving its management.