An extensive diabetes programme for Maori which held promise for being the best in the heap with lofty targets, has fallen flat in achieving the main objective of lowering the rate of the disease by one-third within a pre-defined time frame.

The project has also overshot the budget and turned out to be very expensive as it did not get the estimated participation, and was unable to detect even 50% of the type 2 diabetes cases. This leaves a whole lot of work yet to be done in Maori, with respect to combating increasing diabetes rates.

A spokesman of the project was of the opinion that the main reason for the failure to meet objectives was insufficient time to complete the investigations for the intended numbers. And any further extension in the time frame of the project, beyond the estimated three years would have amounted to a huge financial strain.