CALLS HAVE BEEN made for the government to provide insulin pump services for children with diabetes nationwide.
Thomas Pringle TD has today called on the government to provide the service. The Independent TD for Donegal South-West stated during Leaders’ Questions today:
In September, Diabetes Ireland submitted a business case to the HSE for the provision of insulin pump services for children in Letterkenny General Hospital. For an estimated cost of €95,000, insulin pump services can be provided to the 138 children that access diabetes care in Letterkenny.
He said that citizens living in the north and northwest are “being forced to travel long distances to access treatment”. “At the moment 20 families are travelling to Dublin hospitals to access care and in many cases they are undergoing journey times of up to five or six hours,” said the Deputy.
Deputy Pringle said that “where you live in this country should not be the deciding factor in whether you can get treatment”.
Fifty per cent of children with diabetes develop long term complications due to their illness and properly controlling their insulin levels in childhood can reduce the long term effects of the condition. So this investment would have long term benefits for the health budget and improve the quality of life of sufferers.
He said that that the investment required for the pumps “would actually save money in the long term by reducing the risk of complications from diabetes for patients and ease the burden on the health services”.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say