The On Call Plus Glucometer: a Complete System From One Shelf
The On Call Plus glucometer helps you keep testing without the two things that usually derail home monitoring, which are running out of strips and finding the refills cost more than you budgeted. We stock the matching strips alongside it, and on cost per test they are the least expensive system we sell, so the meter you buy today is one you can afford to keep using in five years.
That combination is rarer than it ought to be. A glucometer is only as useful as the strips you can get for it, and a meter bought where the refills are hard to find or dear becomes a drawer ornament within a year. Buying the meter and its strips from the same shelf, with a standing monthly delivery behind them, is the arrangement that keeps people testing.
What the On Call Plus Glucometer Does
It holds 300 readings, each stamped with the date and time, and works out your running averages over the last 7, 14 and 30 days.
Those averages are the useful part. A single reading tells you very little and a page of scattered numbers tells our doctor almost as little, but a thirty-day average alongside a seven-day one shows whether things are moving and in which direction. Bring the meter to your appointments rather than trying to remember, and ask our pharmacist to show you how to call the averages up, which takes a minute at the counter and is the feature people most often never find.
What to Buy With It
A meter on its own tests nothing. You will need strips and lancets, and it is worth getting all three in one go rather than discovering the gap on the first morning.
The strips are our On Call Plus strips, fifty to a pack, which is about three and a half weeks at twice-daily testing. Lancets are the other half of every test and want to be fresh each time. Tell our pharmacist how often our doctor has asked you to test and we will set a standing monthly delivery for the consumables, in plain outer packaging with a delivery note that names nothing. Please also ask us whether a code needs entering when you open a new pot of strips, and we will show you either way.
Taking a Reading Properly
Most unreliable home readings are the technique rather than the machine, and four habits cover nearly all of it.
Wash your hands with soap and warm water and dry them properly, because sugar from fruit, juice or food left on a finger reads far higher than your blood and is the usual cause of an alarming number. Use a fresh lancet every time and prick the side of the fingertip rather than the pad, moving round your fingers so no single spot gets sore. Let the drop form on its own rather than squeezing or milking the finger, which pushes tissue fluid into the sample and reads lower than the truth. Then apply the blood to the strip and keep still until the meter beeps. Please never share a lancing device with anybody, even within one household.
Keeping the Meter and Strips in Good Order
Keep the strips in their own pot with the lid shut tight, shut immediately after taking one out, at room temperature and away from sun, damp and the inside of a car. Not the fridge. Check the expiry before starting a new pot, because a strip that has taken up moisture still produces a number.
Wipe the meter with a barely damp cloth and keep it out of water. Replace the battery as soon as the warning shows rather than testing through it. And bring the meter in to us from time to time so we can run a test alongside you, check your technique and confirm the meter and strips are working together. Five minutes, no charge, and it is the only practical check a home meter ever gets.
What to Do With the Numbers
The memory records them, so bring the meter to your appointments. Where you prefer paper as well, note the date, the time and whether the reading was before or after food. A fortnight of readings shows a pattern, and the pattern is what our doctor treats.
Please bring the readings to us rather than adjusting your own insulin or tablets, since doses are changed on a pattern over weeks and a dose altered because of one number causes harm in both directions. Our doctor will set your own target range with you too, because the right targets differ between people and are different again in pregnancy, in older age and for somebody on insulin.
When to Act, and When to Get Help the Same Day
A reading below 4.0 mmol/L needs treating immediately. Take fifteen to twenty grams of fast-acting sugar, which is three or four glucose tablets, half a glass of ordinary soda or fruit juice, or three teaspoons of sugar in water. Wait fifteen minutes, test again, repeat if it is still low, then eat something more substantial so it holds.
Where somebody with low blood sugar is confused, fitting or hard to wake, treat it as an emergency and get help at once, and please put nothing in the mouth of a person who is unconscious. A very high reading alongside vomiting, stomach pain, deep rapid breathing, breath that smells sweet or of acetone, or unusual drowsiness needs hospital the same day rather than another test. Please also come and see us for lows that keep happening, lows you no longer feel coming, or readings that stay high for several days.
What We Can Honestly Tell You
For somebody newly diagnosed who will be testing for years, this is the system we would recommend first, on the strength of the running cost and the fact that both halves of it sit on one shelf. Our pharmacist will set it up and show you a test at the counter.
You will need its On Call Plus test strips and lancets with it. If you would rather have a meter with a larger memory and running averages over ninety days, ask about the Accu-Chek Instant meter, though please weigh its strip cost over a year before you decide.
Is This Glucometer Right for You?
Please talk to our pharmacist or our doctor before you buy if any of these apply.
- You already own a meter. Tell us its model name and we will match the strips rather than sell you a second machine.
- You are choosing a system for the first time. Ask us for the cost per test and the yearly figure on each option. The cheapest meter is rarely the cheapest system.
- You have been testing less often than you were asked to because of cost. Please tell us, because moving system is usually possible.
- A reading below 4.0 mmol/L. Treat it at once with fast-acting sugar, retest in fifteen minutes, and tell us if it keeps happening.
- Someone with low blood sugar who is confused, fitting or hard to wake. Emergency, and nothing by mouth.
- A very high reading with vomiting, stomach pain, deep rapid breathing, sweet-smelling breath or drowsiness. Hospital the same day.
Where to Buy the On Call Plus glucometer in Kenya
Order online and we deliver countrywide, or collect from our pharmacy at Kahawa Sukari Shopping Center, Nairobi. We send orders to Nairobi and every neighbourhood around it — the CBD, Westlands, Parklands, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, Lower Kabete, Lavington, Kileleshwa, Kilimani, Karen, Langata, South B, South C, Eastleigh, Buruburu, Donholm, Embakasi, Ngong Road, Kasarani, Roysambu, Zimmerman, Githurai, Ruaka, Banana Hill, Two Rivers, Village Market and Pride Lands — and across Kiambu, Thika, Juja, Ruiru, Kikuyu, Limuru and Ngong.
Beyond the capital we deliver to Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Nyeri, Machakos, Athi River, Kitengela, Kajiado, Naivasha, Narok, Kericho, Bomet, Kisii, Migori, Homa Bay, Siaya, Bungoma, Busia, Kakamega, Vihiga, Webuye, Kitale, Nandi Hills, Iten, Kapenguria, Embu, Meru, Chuka, Kerugoya, Murang’a, Othaya, Nyahururu, Nanyuki, Maralal, Isiolo, Marsabit, Moyale, Wajir, Mandera, Garissa, Lodwar, Kitui, Mwingi, Makueni, Emali, Kibwezi, Voi, Taveta, Wundanyi, Mariakani, Diani, Ukunda, Kilifi, Watamu, Malindi, Lamu and Hola. Everything in this category travels in plain outer packaging with nothing on the outside to say what is inside, and the delivery note carries our name and no product description. At a reading in seconds a pack covers a known length of time, so tell us how many months you want covered and we will work out the quantity with you before you order.
Across Africa, ask us before you order. We have sent orders to Uganda, Tanzania, Somaliland and as far as Malawi, and we will quote for Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and the rest of the continent. Tell us the destination and we will confirm any import paperwork before the parcel leaves us.
Living abroad? Order from wherever you are and we deliver to your family here in Kenya. Kenyans in the UK, the United States, Canada, South Africa and the Gulf order from us regularly for parents and relatives at home. A blood glucose meter is needed every day rather than occasionally, so running out is the thing to plan against. Tell us who it is for, the size and how many months you want covered, and we will set up a standing monthly delivery so nobody is ever caught short.
Why Buy Your the On Call Plus glucometer from HealthAlone Kenya?
HealthAlone is a pharmacist-led health ecosystem licensed by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, and our stock is original, sealed and correctly stored. Kahawa Sukari is a real counter with real pharmacists behind it.
Our pharmacists will set the meter up and show you a test, put the strips and lancets on the same monthly order, and show you how to call up the running averages. Our doctor is here too if you would rather have the whole question looked at properly.
It is one more step in our vision: building Africa’s most trusted health ecosystem, accessible to everyone, everywhere.
Your Questions About the On Call Plus Glucometer, Answered
Which strips does it take?
On Call Plus test strips, fifty to a pack, which we stock alongside the meter. A strip from another meter model will not serve.
How many readings does it hold?
300, each stamped with the date and time, with running averages over the last 7, 14 and 30 days.
Why do the averages matter?
A seven-day average beside a thirty-day one shows whether things are moving and in which direction. Ask us to show you how to call them up.
What else do I need to start testing?
Strips and lancets. A meter on its own tests nothing, so get all three together rather than finding the gap on the first morning.
How long does a pack of fifty strips last?
About three and a half weeks at twice-daily testing, or nearer a fortnight at four times a day.
Why is this the system you recommend first?
Because its strips are the least expensive per test that we sell, and both halves sit on one shelf, so refills are never a hunt.
Do the strips need a code entered?
Ask our pharmacist when you collect them. Some systems need a code on opening a new pot and some do not.
Why must I wash my hands before testing?
Sugar from fruit, juice or food on a finger reads far higher than your blood. Soap and warm water, dried properly.
Should I squeeze my finger?
Let the drop form on its own. Squeezing pushes tissue fluid in and reads lower than the truth. Prick the side of the fingertip, not the pad.
Can I share the meter with a relative?
The meter yes, with care, but never the lancing device or a lancet. Sharing those passes infection between people.
Can you check my meter is reading correctly?
Bring it in and we will run a test alongside you and check your technique. Five minutes, no charge.
What do I do about a reading below 4.0 mmol/L?
Treat it at once with fifteen to twenty grams of fast-acting sugar, wait fifteen minutes and retest. Repeat if still low, then eat something more substantial.
When is a high reading an emergency?
With vomiting, stomach pain, deep rapid breathing, sweet-smelling breath or drowsiness. Hospital the same day rather than another test.
Where can I buy On Call Plus Glucometer in Kenya, and what does it cost?
From HealthAlone, online for delivery countrywide or over the counter at Kahawa Sukari Shopping Center, Nairobi. The current price is shown above. We deliver across Nairobi — the CBD, Westlands, Parklands, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda, Kitisuru, Lavington, Kilimani, Karen, Langata, South B, South C, Eastleigh, Kasarani, Roysambu, Githurai, Ruaka and Banana Hill — and to Kiambu, Thika, Juja, Ruiru, Kikuyu, Limuru, Ngong, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Nyeri, Machakos, Kitengela, Naivasha, Narok, Kericho, Kisii, Migori, Homa Bay, Bungoma, Busia, Kakamega, Kitale, Embu, Meru, Nanyuki, Nyahururu, Isiolo, Marsabit, Wajir, Mandera, Garissa, Lodwar, Kitui, Makueni, Voi, Taveta, Mariakani, Diani, Ukunda, Kilifi, Watamu, Malindi and Lamu. Outside Kenya we have delivered to Uganda, Tanzania, Somaliland and Malawi, and we quote for Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and the rest of Africa on request. Tell us how often our doctor has asked you to test, so the strips and lancets go out with the meter.
