A common type of insulin used to treat type 1 and 2 diabetes will be available free from this Thursday, the Health Minister, Chris Fearne has announced. 

Speaking at a press conference held at the Qormi Health Centre, the minister said around 2,000 patients depend on the insulin glargine marketed under the names Lantus.

This scheme, to be launched on World Diabetes Day, will save patients up to €400 a year, said Mr Fearne.

Lantus is one of the newer long-lasting insulins that only needs to be taken once a day. It lasts 24 hours and is more effective than other insulins, Mr Fearne said.

Furthermore, the minister also announced plans for remote patient monitoring throughout Malta and Gozo.

"We will be the first country in the world to be implementing this system nation-wide," he said.

This monitoring system would involve putting patches on patients to take their blood sugar readings and transmit them using Wi-Fi. 

This new system of monitoring diabetics will be tested on children to begin with, said Mr Fearne, and will function by alerting their parents when there is a problem, so that they can adjust insulin doses as required.

If the situation escalates care workers and doctors can intervene.

Since the national diabetes strategy was launched in 2015, there have been significant improvements in the treatment of the disease, said Mr Fearne.

Diabetics are now able to be treated in health centres around Malta compared to a few years back when they could only be seen at Mater Dei.

At the beginning of this year, the Health Ministry also announced that diabetes related major amputations had dropped a third since the opening of a €400,000 Diabetic Foot Ward in 2017.