Turnbull dangles $54 million subsidised hi-tech blood sugar monitoring devise for Type 1 diabetic kids election promise

With diabetes cases rising dramatically the past few years globally, researchers are focusing on several treatments and cures, ranging from use of stem cells to produce cells capable of secreting insulin to non-injectable forms of insulin. Australian politicians are now seeing diabetics as potential voters and are courting them with electoral promises.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull promised $54 million worth of constant glucose monitor to Type 1 diabetic kids in Australia if his party wins the election on July 2. The monitor tracks blood sugar level and transmit the results to a smartphone or insulin pump.

The amount is sufficient to subsidise the cost of the device for about 4,000 young Australians aged 20 years old or younger, which places the cost of a device at $13,500 per piece. Labor selected to subsidise the purchase of the high-tech monitor because it is the number one topic of letters that Health Minister Susan Ley receives, reports News.com.au.

The monitor makes it unnecessary to perform several finger pricks a day to test blood sugar level and spares children from needing to wake up at night for insulin injection. It would be the pump in the monitor that would send insulin with accurate doses depending on the glucose reading.

“It will help reduce possible visits to emergency departments and missed school days by allowing families and children to better self-manage their diabetes,” Herald Sun quotes Turnbull.

Users of the device share the advantages of their monitors in managing the chronic ailment.

“It’s so much easier when I go to school. I can look at my blood sugars during my class and not have to get out my testing kit and disrupt the class,” says 14-year-old Emma Hogan. Reza Scibilia adds, “Diabetes is certainly not a death sentence. Diabetes is a pain and it’s always there but it certainly hasn’t stopped me doing anything I want to do.”