180 diabetic patients who are currently participating in a six-month pilot project will be given continued service of continuous glucose monitors even after the pilot project ends, the Health Ministry has confirmed.
The six-month pilot project is aimed to supply free continuous glucose monitors (CGM) to diabetic children and adolescents under the age of 16 who live with type 1 diabetes. This project has proven to be helpful for many people, and according to the Maltese Diabetes Association (MDA), the project is expected to end in around eight weeks.
Following reports made by the MDA, which said that the end of the pilot project is making parents anxious to know whether it will be extended, this newsroom contacted the health authorities for an update on the matter and to find out what the government's intentions are beyond the six-month pilot project.
Speaking with the Malta Independent, a spokesperson for the Health Ministry said that the pilot project still has another two months left before it concludes.
The spokesperson explained that during this period, given that there are two potential contenders for the supply, patients are testing the monitoring system of each contender on a three-month basis.
"After this period of trial, the government will assess the service from the feedback received from the patients and clinicians and a supplier will be chosen on the basis of this assessment," the health ministry said.
The project, which was first announced in 2018, began earlier this year, with the purpose of providing CGMs to all children and adolescents under the age of 16 who live with type 1 diabetes. However, the six-month pilot project is coming to an end.
The CGM is an innovative and important device that provides round the clock control and analysis of one's diabetes. Not only has the outcome of these CGMs been successful with patients in Malta, however there is also evidence of research carried out overseas on the enourmous benefits of CGMs in the management of one's diabetes. These monitors involve inserting a small sensor under the skin, which measures blood sugar levels constantly. They record spikes and drops exactly as they happen, allowing patients to know what they are doing and to plan against it in the future.
Questions on whether the government is planning on extending the incentive to all patients living with type 1 diabetes, irrespective of age, remained unanswered.
When the government had announced the project, parents had welcomed the news with open arms as CGMs would waive the struggle to extract blood from their children through pricking several times a day.