Hungarian Diabetics Cannot Avail Modern Treatments If They Do Not Follow Recommended Diets

In a drastic step the Hungarian government has revealed that people with diabetes who do not follow their recommended diets will not be able to avail modern treatments.

Diabetics undergo a blood test on average every three months and those who score high levels of glycemia more than twice a year could be turned away from treatments with analog insulin -- more efficient but also more expensive -- and left with the less efficient human insulin, under the new rules.

Diabetic Diet - Diabetes Mellitus
The diabetic diet most often recommended is high in dietary fiber (especially soluble fiber) and nutrients, but low in fat (especially saturated fat) and moderate in calories.

Currently, all diabetes treatments are subsidised by the state, which hopes to reduce health spending with the new rules.

The decree does not however apply to children under 18 and those in a life-threatening condition.

According to the decree in the Official Journal, drugs for Hungary's 500,000 diabetics cost some 30 billion forints (100 million euros, $131.7 million) every year.

Gestational Diabetes About
The condition is not caused by a lack of insulin, but by the action of hormones produced during pregnancy that blocks the action of insulin.

"Taxpayers' money should not be spent on patients who don't cooperate with their doctor," it said.

Laszlo Bene, head of the diabetes department at Budapest's Peterfy Sandor hospital, warned however that the short-term gains would be coupled with long-term financial pain caused by future spending on treating secondary effects that might follow the use of human insulin.

Type 2 Diabetes - Risk Factors - Symptoms & Signs - Management - Prevention
Globalization and changing lifestyles has made diabetes very common in developing countries so much so that India is known as the Diabetes Capital of the World.

"Only 30 percent of patients are able to control their diet."

"Discipline is not the only factor but also the lack of money for good quality foods," he told the daily Nepszabadsag.

Screening for Diabetes - Test - Frequently Asked Questions
Diabetes screening is done using blood tests like fasting blood sugar and hemoglobin A1c levels. Diabetes affects 8.3% Americans and about 10% Indians.

The national diabetes society backed the decree however.

"The analog insulin treatment should be used only for those who cannot achieve correct blood sugar levels... by other treatments," the society's president Gabor Winkler told Hungarian news agency MTI.

Source-AFP