The Australian Government announced on the 1st April 2017 that people with type 1 diabetes will have access to free glucose monitoring devices under a federal government program. The $54 million program has been praised as a ‘life-changer’ by Diabetes Australia (DA).
“This will benefit around 4,000 Australian families with a child or young person with type 1 diabetes who are struggling to manage the condition,” DA CEO Professor Greg Johnson said in a statement.
The program will save sufferers about $4000 a year by giving them access to continuous glucose monitoring devices for free through the National Diabetes Services Scheme.
It’s open to children and people aged under 21.
The glucose monitors will alert users or their parents if glucose levels are getting too low, without the need for continuous finger prick tests.
It started here, at a regional level, instigated by our President Guy Barnett MP whose motion to the Parliament of Tasmania on 1 June 2016 recorded:The fast growth in diabetes; that Type 1 accounts 10% of all diabetes and is increasing; praised the work of DA in lobbying for a subsidy towards the monitoring technology; and called on the Government to implement the investment promised in such technology.
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