Sugar waste: diabetic patients complain about the failure of monitoring systems
Diabetic patients from several regions cannot receive sensors for continuous glucose monitoring, they told Izvestia. We are talking about at least eight subjects. Such devices are provided to people free of charge — by decision of medical commissions. In September 2025, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under the article "Negligence" after the collective appeal of 56 Muscovites. However, on the same day, the decree was canceled, "due to the lack of socially dangerous consequences," Izvestia found out. However, patients continued to complain to law enforcement agencies. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
Where glucose monitoring is not provided
Problems with providing patients with diabetes with glucose monitoring sensors (MGM) have arisen in at least eight regions of the country. Patients, in particular, representatives of Dioresurs, told Izvestia about this. We are talking about Moscow, Moscow, Ulyanovsk, Omsk, Orel, Murmansk, Bryansk and Chelyabinsk regions, as well as Bashkiria.
NMH sensors alert patients to high or low sugar levels, helping to prevent hypoglycemia, a critical decrease in blood glucose levels that can lead to death. The device must be changed regularly — its service life ranges from six to 14 days.
Adult patients with diabetes are provided with NMH sensors by the regions on a preferential basis only by decision of medical commissions. At the same time, they are issued to children and pregnant women within the framework of the federal program "Combating diabetes mellitus".
Anna from Moscow told Izvestia that on November 11, 2025, she submitted an application to the Investigative Committee for a local polyclinic: her 19-year-old son with severe diabetes was denied glucose monitoring.
As follows from the document (Izvestia has it), for three years the young man was continuously provided with NMG systems in the polyclinic, however, "since May 2025, he has been denied access to sensors, despite the available medical indications, the treatment protocol and the conclusions of the medical council."
"The staff of the polyclinic made an illegal decision to refuse to provide medical care," the statement said. "I ask you to verify the facts I have indicated and bring to justice those who made the illegal decision."
Anna said that her son received a lifelong disability of the third group in childhood.
— The course of my son's diabetes is very severe, the NMH sensors have become a salvation for us. He does not feel the sugar drop, and literally before his eyes his body is being taken away from him — and he cannot speak. Since March, they stopped giving out sensors to my son, and the clinic says, they say, here are the test strips for you, and they don't explain the refusal in any way. The doctors even tried to accuse my son of injecting himself with insulin on purpose," the woman said.
Anna is a mother of four children, her youngest daughter also suffers from diabetes. The Muscovite woman said that the NMG sensors cost about 9 thousand rubles per month.
Elena, a resident of Moscow, also faced a refusal to issue a glucose monitoring sensor.
"I have 35 years of diabetes experience, the first disability group," she told Izvestia. — I had a kidney transplant a year ago. I need monitoring for vital signs, as there are multiple complications. In March 2025, all adults who had previously been given sensors stopped being given them. I was at a medical examination, and the endocrinologist was trying to prove that I was fine and didn't need monitoring.
In July, 56 Muscovites collectively appealed to the UK with similar complaints.
"In oral conversations, representatives of polyclinics refer to the ban on providing sensors to patients with type 1 diabetes over the age of 18," the appeal said (Izvestia has it). — In written responses, medical organizations refer to the lack of a regulatory framework for the provision of NMG. And when complaining to the Moscow Department of Health, patients are told that the decision is made by the attending physician."
As Izvestia found out, in September 2025, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on this complaint — "on the grounds of a crime under the article "Negligence". This decision of the law enforcement agencies is at the disposal of the editorial office. However, literally on the same day, September 23, the decision to institute criminal proceedings was canceled.
"The study of the materials that served to initiate the case has shown that so far the investigator has not established the socially dangerous consequences that have occurred, employees of Moscow city polyclinics have not been interviewed, medical documentation of patients has not been requested, that is, there are no grounds for initiating criminal proceedings," the IC resolution explains.
The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, in response to a request from Izvestia, confirmed that they had received a collective complaint from 56 diabetic patients from Moscow who were denied glucose monitoring. A procedural check is being conducted, the department noted.
Izvestia sent a request to the Moscow Department of Health, as well as to the authorities of all the regions mentioned by the patients.
Last week, Izvestia reported that in ten regions, kidney patients are not being given medications. The problem was recorded in Bashkiria, Dagestan, Tatarstan, St. Petersburg, as well as Omsk, Kirov, Saratov, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan and Ulyanovsk regions.
Why don't the sensors work?
The situation with the provision of NMG sensors for adults with diabetes is close to catastrophic in many regions, Yulia Pankova, head of the Diaresurs project and federal curator of the All—Russian Organization of Parents of Disabled Children, told Izvestia.
"In addition, there are problems with the purchase of insulin, with the provision of diabetes medicines, test strips and supplies for insulin pumps," she said.
According to the expert, adult patients are massively denied the issuance of NMH sensors, as they are not included in the federal program to combat diabetes.
— Children and pregnant women are provided with HMG sensors at the expense of the federal budget within the framework of the "Fight against Diabetes Mellitus" program. But there are problems here too. We recently interviewed 8,000 parents whose children have diabetes, and almost 60% of them said they sometimes bought sensors with their own money," said Yulia Pankova.
In Moscow, adult patients received NMG systems by decision of medical commissions, but since March 2025, such commissions have ceased to be conducted, allegedly "by oral order" of the management, she claims.
— Patients are forced to buy vital medical products at their own expense, — said Yulia Pankova. — It turns out that children with diabetes are supported under the federal program, and a lot of money is allocated for their treatment. And from the age of 18, the carriage turns into a pumpkin — all the efforts of the state, the patient and his relatives go to waste.
What else do patients complain about?
Natalia from Nikolaevsk-on-Amur told Izvestia that she could not receive preferential medicines for diabetes and related diseases even after the intervention of the prosecutor's office.
— I have a disability of the first group. They don't give out medicines for glaucoma and eye pressure for four to five months, they say they don't have the money. I need "Picamilon", as well as "Tragenta", "Asiglia", — she shared.
Alice from Moscow told Izvestia that she had problems getting the drugs Atorvastatin, Ezetrol and Ezetimibe, which are prescribed to diabetic patients to reduce cardiovascular risk and cholesterol.
— The list of medications is long, some of them were prescribed to me, and some of them were refused. The doctor referred to the fact that the system does not make it possible to write a prescription, and in general these drugs are not available in the clinic, they are allegedly not supplied to the pharmacy. Although they are on the list of vital drugs," she said.
In addition, local media reported on problems with the provision of preferential diabetes medications in the Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, Tambov, Tomsk and Ivanovo regions.
Izvestia sent requests to the federal and regional departments of Roszdravnadzor, as well as to the Ministry of Health of the regions, from where citizens' complaints were received. In addition, the editorial board sent inquiries to manufacturers of diabetes drugs, which patients complained about the shortage in pharmacies.
The territorial bodies of Roszdravnadzor in the Tambov region, Khabarovsk Territory, Nizhny Novgorod, Ulyanovsk and Arkhangelsk regions reported that "the central office of Roszdravnadzor will provide a consolidated response on the issue of providing patients with diabetes with preferential medicines and devices for monitoring glucose levels."
The Volgograd Region Health Committee indicated that in 2025, approximately 1.3 billion rubles worth of medicines and medical devices were purchased to provide people with diabetes, which is 216 million rubles more than last year. This year, more than 92 thousand beneficiaries were provided with diabetes drugs in this region.
The provision of NMG systems to patients is carried out within the framework of the federal project "Combating Diabetes mellitus", as well as within the framework of the territorial program of state guarantees for medical care, the regional department recalled. In the first ten months of 2025, about 960 children and 2.6 thousand pregnant women were provided with glucose monitoring sensors under the federal program.
"Medicines, in particular, insulins, were purchased in full demand — there is no shortage. If we talk about the availability of untimely prescriptions, the reasons were, first of all, the emergence of additional needs and an increase in the average monthly cost of medicines. As well as the deadlines set by law for additional procurement activities," the Volgograd Region Health Committee explained.
Interruptions in preferential drug provision are observed from time to time in many regions, the Diabetes Foundation also said.
— Such interruptions are especially noticeable at the beginning of each year. There is no acute shortage of medicines, but we regularly encounter requests from patients who have difficulty receiving preferential medications and medical devices for glucose self—monitoring," they noted.
Among the reasons for the shortage of discounted medicines may be problems with transportation and customs clearance, late purchases and a shortage of funds in regional budgets.
— Even if drugs are available in central warehouses, it may be difficult to quickly distribute them to regional pharmacies and clinics. Most often, problems arise with expensive or imported medicines and insulins, as their logistics are more complicated and their dependence on external factors is higher, the experts explained.
How many discounted medicines were purchased
Problems with the provision of medicines and continuous glucose monitoring systems may be related to the specifics of procurement procedures in the regions, says Nikolay Bespalov, executive director of the RNC Pharma analytical company.
— In the regions, it may be incorrect to determine the need or not to hold a tender on time, — he noted.
The expert also admitted that companies may not go to auctions because the initial maximum contract price is too low.
— Organizations refuse to participate in such tenders and the procedure has to be restarted with different conditions. All this takes time, so there may be interruptions," explained Nikolai Bespalov.
Retail sales of NMG sensors from January to September 2025 increased by 40% compared to the same period last year, RNC Pharma, an analytical company, told Izvestia.
"In total, 277 thousand devices worth 1.23 billion rubles were sold in the first and third quarters of 2025," they noted.
According to the Headway Company, in January–October 2025, 3.27 million packages of insulin pumps and components were purchased through public procurement, including 16.1 thousand packages of continuous glucose monitoring systems. In the same period of 2024, about 1.3 million packages of insulin pumps and components were purchased. Of these, 125 packages of continuous glucose monitoring systems.
In January–October, 12.17 million packages of insulin-based drugs were purchased. In the same period last year, there were almost 11.3 million packages. More than 26.5 million statin-based medicines were purchased in the first ten months of this year, and about 20.4 million packages of such drugs were purchased last year.
The drug Trazhenta, which is used to control blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes, was purchased in January–October 2025 with 561.5 thousand packages. In 2024 — almost 474 thousand. Medicines "Asiglia" — 22.1 thousand packages against 35.7 thousand a year earlier.
According to the Cursor analytical company, 126.3 thousand packages of Picamilon were purchased in January–October 2024, and 94.4 thousand in the same period of 2025.
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