Paediatric insulin pen needles have been out of stock or available in very limited numbers at Mater Dei Hospital pharmacy for quite a long time.

My son’s three-year-old twins are diabetic type one and each uses four such needles a day (two jabs in the morning and two in the evening). In the last two two-month periods, that is, March/April and May/June, the twins have only been dispensed with needles as follows: April 18 for 30 days; May 21 for 12 days and June 22 for seven days. None have been dispensed for the prescription in hand covering the period July/August. What is the point of dispensing insulin cartridges without the needles?

Filing a complaint with customer care (twice) gave no results. Speaking to the head pharmacist at Mater Dei pharmacy we were referred to Procurement at the General Medical Stores where we were again referred to customer care. Nobody seems to be responsible to make sure that the said needles do not remain out of stock any longer. The needles are not easily available in the open market and, when available, at €16.50 per box of 100 are very expensive.

Should the needles remain unavailable, my advice to my son, and to other parents who are in the same position, is to take the children, morning and evening, to the diabetic clinic at Mater Dei to have the insulin administered there.