Bitter warning over diabetes devices

The Saudi Food and Drug Authority has warned health care practitioners, as well as patients, against using faulty OneTouch Verio IQ and OneTouch Verio Pro Blood glucose meters.
The SFDA said it had received a message from Lifescan Johnson & Johnson Company, the manufacturer of the devices, saying that it was withdrawing the products from market because of concerns over inaccurate blood sugar data.
The authority said it had received a similar message from Abbott Diabetes Care, saying it was withdrawing Freestyle InsuLinx, another device used for calculating blood sugar, for giving wrong blood sugar readings.
The faulty machines have not been licensed to be marketed in the Kingdom and have not been cleared by SFDA officials at Saudi ports, said a statement from the authority.
The SFDA said those who have purchased faulty machines could get replacements from manufacturers by visiting their customer care centers. The public can report faulty medical equipment by visiting the National Center for Medical Devices Reporting or via its website, sfda.gov.sa.
The SFDA encourages health care practitioners and patients to report any adverse effects associated with medical devices at http://ncmdr.sfda.gov.sa.