Since last year, glucometers have been in use in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), for which diabetes patients, as well as numerous associations throughout the FBiH, claim that they are harmful because the liquid that must come with the glucometers is not distributed.
The official instructions state that the “Medisign GH82” devices can be tested with the original liquid, but it did not come with the divided devices because according to the tender, this liquid was not even specified.
Alma Mulaosmanovic from the Type 1 Diabetes Association said in an interview that they filed numerous complaints – not only her association, but many others throughout the FBiH – however, the main actors, as she says, the Insurance and Reinsurance Institute of the FBiH and The Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of BiH are not taking any concrete steps.
“We had numerous complaints, not only in Sarajevo but throughout the FBiH, and we expected after the meeting at the Ministry of Health that they would protect the children and take action. We were shocked by yesterday’s announcement because our children were left unprotected, they shifted all responsibility to the supplier,” Mulaosmanovic said yesterday.
For more than six months now, they have been shifting responsibility to each other and thereby diminishing responsibility even more. Also, given that every institution is obliged to receive complaints about adverse effects, Mulaosmanovic adds that they do not even record complaints, but forward parents or members of the association to another address.
The main problem lies in the fact that the glucometer did not come with the liquid with which the validity of the device is actually checked.
“The institute did not announce the liquid in the tender, and the agency did not register it either. In order to check suspicions about the glucometer, we do it with the help of the liquid that we have always received with glucometers. With these glucometers, we did not receive what is actually a control test liquid for this type of glucometer,” she explains.
In the instructions that came with the glucometer, it was stated that this glucometer only comes with that specific liquid. On this occasion, Mulaosmanovic contacted the supplier who, as she says, deliberately misled her.
“I contacted the supplier because the instructions say that only that one liquid is used for this glucometer. They deliberately misled me that I can buy any liquid at the pharmacy. I also contacted several pharmacies where they told me that they never had any type of liquid in retail,” she stated.
Finally, she adds that the Agency and the Institute claim that they have fulfilled all obligations according to the tender, they refer her to the supplier’s address because they say that they performed an inspection of the liquid that was not actually purchased.
While this problem has been going on for more than half a year, no one wants to take responsibility and withdraw glucometers from use, which can lead to the worst scenarios because, primarily, they read incorrect data, which can cause danger to the lives of the children to whom these glucometers were distributed, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
