Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1432934
3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 NOVEMBER 2021 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications Cost of Type 1 diabetes THOSE living with Type 1 diabetes spend €3,600 a year on life-changing continuous glucose monitoring sys- tems and they are calling on the gov- ernment not to wait till 2023 to start providing these free devices for all. The hardships these people face in accessing devices that empower them to better manage their blood sugar lev- els were raised during a seminar held today by the Maltese Diabetes Associa- tion to mark World Diabetes Day. In Malta there are some 1,600 per- sons living with Type 1 diabetes and accessing these highly effective moni- toring devices meant a financial outlay of €300 month, which some could ill-afford. While the association welcomed the government's decision to provide those under 21 with free devices, there remained close to 1,350 people with Type 1 diabetes who had to wait close to two years before this free service was extended to include them. Continuous glucose monitoring de- vices automatically track blood glucose levels in real time throughout the day and night enabling users to take imme- diate action, while providing peace of mind when driving, travelling, exercis- ing or socialising. By investing now the government will save money in the long-term be- cause those living with Type 1 diabetes will drastically reduce their risk of complications and the need for hospi- tal treatment. This point was raised by both Prof. Stephen Fava, head of the Diabetes and Endocrine Centre at Mater Dei Hos- pital, and consultant physician Sandro Vella during the interventions they made during the seminar. Prof. Fava and Dr Vella both stressed the point that the country would be saving mon- ey in the long run as complications were minimised if the condition was better managed. These devices are provided for free or highly subsidised in neighbouring countries. During a debate moderated by John Bundy, those living with Type 1 diabe- tes said it was difficult to truly appre- ciate how these devices empowered to live a better quality of life. A young man who lives with this condition, said: "It's up to us and the country to take action. We're not after pity… We are appealing to the government to help us not be a burden on the state's health services." Another woman said she was nurs- ing her newborn when this apparatus set off an alarm to alert her to her dan- gerously low glucose levels, preventing what could have been an ugly fall. As the world marks the centenary from the discovery of insulin, the theme of the seminar was Access to Diabetes Care: If Not Now, When?, a theme all the more relevant be- cause millions of people with diabetes around the world still cannot access the care they need. Chris Delicata President, Malta Diabetes Association The eucharist A billboard was recently put up in Malta by an ultra-conservative, Roman Catholic group from Poland to pro- mote the receiving of the eucharist on the tongue rather than in the hand. Since the Reformation, Christians have been arguing among themselves over the eucharist: "For instance, whether Flesh be Bread, or Bread be Flesh; whether the Juice of a certain Berry be Blood or Wine." (Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels). Voltaire observed: "Consider the various Christian interpretations of the eucharist: the Catholics profess that they eat God and not bread; the Lutherans eat both God and bread; the Calvinists eat bread but not God. If anyone told us of a like extravagance or madness among Hottentots and Kaffirs, we should think we were being imposed upon." (Will Durant, The Age of Voltaire). John Guillaumier St Julian's