Diabetics in crisis for sugar measuring strips – instead of five boxes, she got one

Profimedia
Photo: Profimedia

A diabetic patient was unpleasantly surprised today at an insulin pharmacy in Bit Pazar, because instead of the five boxes of insulin strips needed to measure the blood sugar level, she was issued only one, with the reasoning that there was a shortage of strips.

– Instead of five boxes as I should receive in two months, they gave me one, there was a shortage. I don't know how we are expected to measure sugar if there are no strips. There was enough insulin, but not strips, says Ana Atanasovska for "Sloboden Pechat".

The management of the seven insulin pharmacies operating in Skopje confirms the shortage for our editorial office.

- The problem is that all the annual amounts of tapes that we planned have been used up. Patients with type 1 diabetes received five scutuli every two months, and patients with type XNUMX diabetes received one box every two months. There are five strips in each box. But the stoppage occurred because we have a large number of new diabetics, and also pregnant women with diabetes. We received small quantities in the seven insulin pharmacies and they do not meet the needs of the patients. Some get it as they should, and others don't even after three or four months. In fact, it is first come first served. Insulin pharmacy technicians do not return patients, but there is a shortage of strips. We received instructions from the Ministry of Health that the situation will stabilize from April, says pharmacist Slavica Jurukovska, head of the medicine depot at Zdravstven dom Skopje.

She adds that the Association of Diabetics is aware of the situation, but that the quantities predicted have been exhausted and the number of patients is higher than predicted. The Ministry of Health, with an annex to the contracts, has already solved the problem once, and the wholesalers delivered larger quantities than expected, but the problem is still present.

In ordinary pharmacies, there are strips for measuring sugar and they have different prices for different devices. The price is around MKD 700 for 50 strips.

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