JEDDAH, 11 April — A breakthrough medical product on the market for diabetics, which allows patients to monitor their glucose levels at home, is not being properly distributed by pharmacists here in the Kingdom — and as a result, the health of diabetes sufferers is being put at serious risk.
Lifescan, a division of Johnson & Johnson, produced this monitoring system that measures the level of glucose in the blood. The package, known as ONETOUCH, contains a solution that tests the monitoring system’s efficiency. It is a crucial component. Being without it is like driving a car that does not have any indicators on the dashboard.
Once the solution runs out, it is supposed to be replaceable free of charge, since the system itself is for permanent use.
There is a huge market for this product here in Saudi Arabia, where 15 percent of the population suffers from diabetes — a chronic disease in which the body does not make, or does not properly use, insulin (the hormone that helps the body use energy created from sugar).
A reader in Yanbu contacted Arab News to complain that he had bought ONETOUCH a year ago. When he ran out of the monitoring solution, he went to his local pharmacy to pick up some more.
He discovered, however, that it was not available. He was told by his regular pharmacist that customers have to buy the complete package once again. When he tried elsewhere, he was given more dangerous advice: that the solution was no longer required. In fact, this is a blatant lie, with potentially catastrophic health implications.
When pressed, the pharmacists also refused to give out the details of the agent.
Could it be that these pharmacists are being so evasive because the cost of ONETOUCH ranges from SR110 to SR350. The philosophy is simple: if the customer is made to purchase the whole package over and over again, the pharmacy rakes in the profits.
The fact remains, however, that the solution should be provided free of charge.
Arab News decided to investigate how those who have bought the package can get the solution for free.
This reporter visited Jeddah’s 10 most prominent pharmacies. None of them stocked the crucial replacement solution. However, only one would let on who the agent was, so that it could be contacted directly.
One suggested that the local hospital could be contacted, while a number of the others repeated the scandalous claim that “the control solution is no longer needed”.
Worse still, the remaining pharmacists simply did not know anything about the product.
We duly contacted the agent, El-Motaheda Company, directly.
A representative from the medical division was shocked to be given the news that the information about how to get the replacement solution was not being provided by the pharmacists they had agreed to stock with their product.
He eagerly gave out the toll-free number (800 2440266), which when called was answered by a customer service department — who was refreshingly pleased to be of assistance. He immediately gave this reporter the address for Lifescan, so that the solution could be picked up at the earliest convenience.
So now readers of Arab News who are in a similar situation know what they should do to bypass the money-grabbing pharmacists.
