With few takers among pregnant women for the high-cost insulin pump, a medical device manufacturing company has come together with a private hospital to offer the device on rent.
An insulin pump costs Rs 2 lakh, discouraging women who need it only for the pregnancy period. The new business model that manufacturers Medtronic and Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals have thought up now makes it a more viable option.
“Gestational diabetes, a condition that occurs in pregnant women, usually subsides after delivery.
Thus, no one is ready to make the big investment for few months,” said Dr S K Wangnoo, endocrinologist and diabetologist at the hospital. He added that normal insulin shots, taken four times a day, cause fluctuations in blood sugar level, harming the foetus.
Some pregnant women have a tendency towards insulin resistance due to genetic factors. Pregnancy itself is also insulin resistant. Gestational diabetes presents itself at 20-24 weeks of pregnancy.
“The device costs Rs 2,500 per month on rent. Including the charge for the consumables, it is approximately Rs 7,500 per month. An individual patient ends up paying Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 through this model,” said Dr Wangnoo.
In the pilot project, 12 women used the device in the past six months. So far, four of them have delivered healthy babies.
Megha Gupta, diabetes consultant at the hospital, said an insulin pump kit contains a pager-sized device which is a reservoir ensuring insulin delivery round-the-clock, an infusion set and a cannula which enters the skin 6 mm deep.
