Loss of income by people whose lives rely on expensive lifesaving drugs has subjected many patients to agony
Lives of many diabetic patients in the country, especially the poor, hangs by a thread as they struggle to access life saving medicines due to increased house hold poverty after many lost in comes and general shortage of drugs.
Diabetic patients have to spend Rwf122,000 on life saving medications in a month, to buy four Lantus insulin packets at Rwf23,000 each and 30 galnvusnet tablets at Rwf1,000 each, to get the most effective diabetes drugs on the market without side effects, for the out of pocket category.
“Sustaining life with this condition has become increasingly expensive, yet you know once you give up life will be lost within a very short time, but I have reached a point where I accept my fate, because I have tried everything but the drugs are beyond my reach”, said a diabetes patient in Kigali.
Diabetes medicine has been ordinarily expensive for everyone, including those who have jobs, but now the situation has gotten worse as many lost jobs and joined the out of pocket category.
The situation is worse for patients in the low-income category who live in rural areas, many of whom have lost even their little income-as out of pocket treatment becomes completely untenable for them.
The community based medical insurance scheme mituelle de santé can only give the poor in category A access to some of these drugs, but the insulin and drugs they get on this plan also have side effects, but even the individual contribution required from a patient for this plan has become hard to afford by some. Some had resorted to sustaining their lives with nutritional supplements, eating certain foods and using certain herbal remedies to maintain their blood sugar at a normal range, but these have also increased in price at a time many patients lost their incomes.
This comes at a precarious time when diabetics like other patients with pre-existing, especially non-communicable conditions are more vulnerable to die if they contract coronavirus.
Many have already died from the condition, while even some diabetes patients who contracted coronavirus have died.
Francois Gishoma, the president of Rwanda diabetes association recently contracted coronavirus and succumbed to the disease, for many years he has been at the forefront championing campaigns for diabetes patients to access lifesaving medicines, his death came as a major setback to the community.
The back-to-back lockdowns and other mobility restrictions in the last few months also made it hard for many patients in rural areas to access their life-saving medicines in Kigali.
Ministry of Health in December reported that 90 per cent of the people who died of Covid-19 in the country had NCD’s, and with the current situation more are likely to die this year.
Alphonse Mbarushimana, the programme manager at NCD alliance said diabetic patients are in a dire situation now, and there will be need for intervention at the different levels to save people’s lives.
“Many of the people suffering from diabetes and other NCD’s have lost their incomes due to job losses, yet the medicines have even got more expensive due to shortages, it is a double burden.”