Plea for CM’s intervention to ensure rapid-acting insulin for children under Mittayi

Children with Type I diabetes and their parents have sought the Chief Minister’s intervention to ensure that the insulin currently made available to them through the Mittayi clinics be replaced with the insulin that was provided earlier.

The Type One Diabetes Foundation (Kerala), in its petition to the Chief Minister, said the insulin provided under the Kerala Social Security Mission’s Mittayi scheme for the past one year was causing health problems, including diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), among children.

The insulin, the foundation alleged, was not as effective as the one provided earlier under Mittayi. The insulin provided earlier was rapid acting, so students in school could take it and then have their lunch after a small gap. However, the insulin currently provided acted so slowly that lunch breaks got over without the children ever getting around to having lunch. Students had to either skip classes or skip lunch, the foundation alleged.

The children had to have more doses of the new insulin, but yet the blood sugar levels did not come under control. When sugar levels spiked, very young kids could not control their bladder in class. A blood test that measures the average blood glucose levels for three months showed high levels among children.

This was not the case when the rapid-acting insulin was being given, the foundation pointed out.

In the event of hospitalisation, doctors advised that the slow-acting insulin currently administered be discontinued. For the beneficiaries of the Mittayi scheme though, purchasing rapid-acting insulin from elsewhere was not affordable.

Hospitalisations were also having an impact on the children’s education, it said.

Though financial constraints had reportedly forced the government to shift to the slow-acting insulin, things had improved much on that front. However, children with Type 1 diabetes continued to suffer owing to the insulin currently provided.

The Mittayi scheme was a model to other States. The health of the children who were its beneficiaries had to be protected, the foundation said, urging the Chief Minister to issue an order that could bring relied to the children and their parents.

The foundation has also petitioned the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights to press for quick action.