Measuring Blood Sugar

The popular machines and models available are:

Accu-chek Active - Available around Rs. 1100/-  with starter kit of 10 strips.

Other models include Accu-chek Performa, Accu-check Nano, Accu-chek Aviva Plus. The most common brand in India seems to be Accu-chek with Active and Performa models being mostly used.

OneTouch (Johnson & Johnson) – Available around Rs. 700-800. Some models have high-Lo alarms. Some variants are available like Ultra. The prices of One-Touch strips are comparable to Accu-chek.

The strips for all the machines and even models of these machines are DIFFERENT. Same strip cannot be used everywhere. Note your machine and model when you buy strips. The container mentions the name of machine on which the strips can be used.

To check the accuracy of your meter, carry it when you do a glucose test. When they take blood try one spot on your meter also. Then compare it with lab results.

Typical price in shops:  

Accu-chek Active Rs. 1000 for 50 Strips (printed price Rs. 1100/-)

Accu-chek Active Rs. 1500 for 100 Strips (printed price Rs. 1600/-)

If you show the medical store that the strips are available much cheaper online, they may reduce the price for you.

Typical price online:

The online prices are almost 20 to 30% less. Some members bought 100 strips for Rs. 1100/- That’s comparable to price of 50 strips in medical store.

Prices of strips for Accu-chek Active and Performa models are comparable.

When you buy online, there will be a shipping charge. It could be around Rs. 70/- for delivery in India.

The author of this article bought 100 Accu-chek strips online for Rs. 1109/- (including shipping to Pune address)

Sites for buying online:

www.ebay.in (Recommended)

www.amazon.in (Showed prices to be slightly higher than ebay.in)

www.snapdeal.in (When the author checked the site, they showed the 100 strips box to be out of stock - 24 Jan 2015)

www.healthkart.com (Showed prices to be much higher than ebay.in)

Some Tips by members:

Prakash Medico, Opposite Corporation Bank, Karvenagar. Sells 100 Accu-chek strip pack for Rs. 1300/-

NL Healthcare in Pune sells 100 Accu-chek strips for Rs. 1100/- They have shops in Swargate, Chinchwad, Kothrud, Aundh, Hadapsar, Sinhagad Road, Koregaon Park, Nashik. Refer to www.nlhealthcare.org Try their phone number 99236 05955 [The writer of this article could not find the strips in their website search and would recommend ebay or other sites.]

Strips cost less in India than some other countries. A member is Malaysia confirmed that he gets 50 strips pack for RM 70 (equal to Rs. 1330/-) after discount. Members traveling out are recommended to carry some stock with them.

Accu-chek Nano shows 1 week, 4 week, 90 days average also.

Buy from the Indian ecommerce sites. Else, they will charge you higher amount in dollars and make you pay for dollar conversion.

When you buy the strips look for expiry date. Strips with an earlier expiry date may be available for lower price.

[Compiled by Mak Pandit from the messages received on discussion groups.]