I was touched by a remark which came from a mother of a Type 1 diabetic, who told me that the skin on her son’s finger is so hard that she struggles to get the blood out, and that her son cries because of the pain.
I was recently co-hosting a conference on Diabetes with the Maltese Diabetes Association under the auspices of the President of Malta, Her Excellency Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, during which several parents have remarked that the struggle to extract blood as a result of having to be pricked many times a day can be easily waived if Type 1 diabetics are equipped with glucose monitors that would give better care and results. This is because insulin pumps allow greater opportunity to take control of diabetes but, because they are a more expensive option than injections, tighter eligibility criteria exist.
I came across similar cases of the sort which sensitised me significantly on the direct impact on the lives of patients and their families which such glucose monitors can have.
It is positive to note that diabetic patients benefit from free glucose sticks and meters, but for me it was not enough.
A couple of months ago I decided to put pen to paper asking our Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health Chris Fearne to make available Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) to Type 1 Diabetics.
Last month, I received an acknowledgement of receipt.
Eight months ago, Government and Opposition were reportedly in agreement over the creation of a parliamentary committee on diabetes. The proposal was submitted by my Parliamentary Group colleague Claudette Buttigieg, to create a permanent parliamentary sub-committee on diabetes.
Strangely enough, the Parliamentary Health Committee has so far not taken any decision on the matter.
Another acknowledgement of receipt with no action.
In this context I applaud the initiative of the then Leader of the Opposition Simon Busuttil during the previous legislature, who was the driver in the setting up of an unofficial committee which was headed by former Labour whip and now a Partit Demokratiku MP Godfrey Farrugia. While the committee met on a regular basis, together with medical, academic, private industry stakeholders and patients themselves; reports were drawn up but were left ignored by the Government.
This is disappointing to me.
Also because I am aware how our President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca is sensitive to the incidence of diabetes, so much so that she referred to diabetes as ‘a national problem’ and called for the launch of a national screening for the illness, saying that the growing numbers of sufferers required immediate action. She even called for ‘immediate action’ because according to Professor Boulton - the main guest of the conference which I co-hosted at San Anton Palace and who is an expert on the topic – said that Malta has one of the highest prevalence of diabetes in Europe and that explains why there is the need to screen high-risk individuals without delay – singling out people with significant obesity, those with a family history of diabetes and women with a history of gestational diabetes.
The International Diabetes Federation, which is an authority on the subject, estimates that in Malta there are more than 30,000 adults known to be diabetics and another 8,000 adults who are undiagnosed diabetics.
From a European perspective the problem is just slightly less pressing than in Malta.
As an MEP I am contributing within the Diabetes Working Group to address this incidence also through related measures, for instance, be it through food labelling. The European Union has elaborate laws; when it comes to funding for research, the EU dedicates significant resources too; and on obesity we are addressing nutrition from tender age in classrooms.
What frustrates me however is that we assume that diabetic patients can wait.
Let me be clear. I commend several positive initiatives in Malta to decrease the impact of this disease on patients but making an excuse on monetary terms is not on.
From a cost perspective our Deputy Prime Minister Fearne knows that investing in the fight against diabetes actually pays in cost savings because managing diabetes means less money spent overall on the high health care costs of fighting complications of unmanaged diabetes.
Translated in real terms, that means that affordable Continuous Glucose Monitors to those in genuine need, that is Type 1 diabetics, are a must.
Families with children who are diabetics expect more than just ‘acknowledgements’ from a Government which says ‘it listens’ and runs a budgetary surplus!
Making these devices available to them will undoubtedly give better care and life changing results in pursuit of the aims sought to be achieved by our own National Strategy for Diabetes.
Because actions speak louder than… acknowledgements.
Francis Zammit Dimech is a Nationalist MEP