Diabetes patients have a reason to rejoice. Digital glucometres and glucose test strips will soon be available at Jan Aushadhi Kendras at reduced prices.
Digital glucometre prices have been slashed by half. One can now buy a brand new glucometre for Rs 480. Glucometre test strips that used to cost Rs 25-40 will now be made available for just Rs 9.
This is a proud moment for Pradeep Gadge, a Mumbai-based diabetologist who started an online petition to bring down the prices of digital glucometres and test strips. ''Now, the poor can also afford these strips and test their sugar levels in the comfort of their homes,'' said Gadge, speaking to THE WEEK. ''Once they are available at affordable prices at Jan Aushadhi stores, I hope multinational companies will be forced to bring down the prices of their test strips. I hope this will happen within a year,'' he added.
'DiabetesVersusWe', an online platform launched by Pradeep Gadge waged a relentless war against overpricing of glucose test strips. '' We conducted a lot of awareness programmes in apartments and colleges,'' recalls Gadge. ''Our petition got an overwhelming response; it garnered over 20,000 signatures,'' he says. There are times when he felt disheartened seeing negative comments on his Facebook wall. But not one to give up, Gadge put pressure on the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority and finally managed to slash the prices of glucose strips.
Gadge says the manufacturing cost of a glucose strip is just 50 paise to Rs 1. '' The total cost of a strip, including import duty, is around Rs 5,'' he says. He started the campaign after he realised a major chunk of diabetes patients in the country cannot afford the strips.
Gadge hopes the reduced price will encourage medical practitioners also to use glucometres for screening. ''Forget general practitioners, even diabetologists do not have glucometre machines. If every practitioner starts keeping a glucometre at his clinic, the screening will be better,'' says Gadge.