Letters to the editor: Government should fund diabetic sensors

Child having the diabetics sensor of the glucose monitoring system on arm. Photo / Getty

Re the Rotorua Daily Post article, November 16, "Coming to terms with diabetes".

Two boys with type 1 diabetes (T1D), one has the benefit of a sensor that monitors his blood sugars because his family can afford it and the other has to make do with a very basic finger-pricking technique.

This is an unbelievable situation.

It is a disgrace that this young man cannot in New Zealand be funded for sensors so he and his family can more easily monitor his blood sugars.

I have been lobbying government departments and Pharmac for years now but to no avail. It would cost the Government relatively little to fund the sensors for each child with T1D but is prohibitive for some families.

Where is the equity? Funding sensors would be cost effective for the Government.

No parents would like to have to wake their child to prick their fingers to establish blood sugars when there is a far superior alternative, which is simply to run a phone/scanner over a sensor embedded in the skin of the child without waking them to automatically get a readout.

Much better diabetes control is achieved with this method. The sensor generates both current and historical glucose trends.

Sensors should be funded at the very least, for children/youth up to the age of 18 years. People with well managed T1D can live long and healthy lives.

The key is to manage glucose levels and sensors help those with T1D to do this with a high level of efficiency.

Barbara Jenks
Lynmore

Hypocrite

I was riding a newly minted track called forest loop in the Redwoods in Rotorua when I came across a large fallen tree on which someone had scribbled, in permanent marker, "Shame".

As I rode on, I wondered about the anonymous person who degraded the track to make their political statement. I can only assume they are decrying the shame that the tree had been felled to make the track.

I didn't notice any similar sentiment expressed for the millions of smaller plants and insects that had met a similar fate in the creation of this track.

I didn't note any sign at the start of this track protesting its construction.

I did reflect on the fact that the pen used in this protest will have caused significant environmental damage in its creation and transport to the hands of the protester.

I wondered if the protester had walked or ridden the track that included the felled tree or had pushed through the bush to make their protest, destroying seedlings and small insects to get there.

So, I was left wondering if this person who chose to utilise the environmental damage of progress to make their simple protest is a hypocrite or simply too stupid to realise that the only way they got to make their protest was utilising the very thing they were protesting about - progress.

Steve Gore
Tauranga

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