Pharmac will today release a summary of the "big response" it received from diabetics about proposed changes to glucose-testing equipment, a Pharmac spokesman said.
Submissions closed late yesterday on a proposal to limit diabetics to new blood glucose-testing equipment which will replace existing options.
The move, which would save about $10 million a year, has sparked an outcry.
Dunedin mother Emma Christmas, whose 7-year-old daughter has type-one diabetes, said there was great uncertainly about the proposal.
Because the family had bought an insulin pump that would only "talk" to a Roche meter, they would need to continue using the old meter, as well the new glucose meter. This arrangement would reduce the effectiveness of the insulin pump, she believed.
Additionally, the new glucose-testing strips would not test ketones, the amount of toxins in the blood.
It was the lack of choice that bothered her family most.
Diabetes Otago office manager Noeline Wedlock said she feared the waste generated by about 200,000 discarded meters going to landfills around the country.
She was concerned that once Roche and Medica lost their contracts to supply the equipment, they would "pull out" of the New Zealand diabetes market, with a loss of people skills and institutional knowledge.
There are 9809 diabetics in Otago and Southland, according to the Southern Primary Health Organisation.
