Gyeonggi Province will conduct a focused crackdown on illegal activities by pharmaceutical wholesalers.
Gyeonggi Province will conduct crackdowns on illegal activities targeting 60 pharmaceutical wholesalers within the province.
The Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police for Public Welfare announced on the 9th that from the 12th of this month until the 12th of next month, they will carry out intensive crackdowns on illegal activities targeting 60 pharmaceutical wholesalers in the province.
Pharmaceutical wholesalers supplying medicines to pharmacies or medical institutions are required to have a pharmacist as a wholesale business manager to manage and verify the quality of pharmaceuticals. However, if an unlicensed person manages pharmaceuticals by borrowing only the pharmacist’s license from the wholesaler, issues related to the quality and distribution process of the pharmaceuticals may arise.
In particular, biological products such as vaccines, which require special attention for public health and hygiene, must be stored separately from other pharmaceuticals in refrigerators or freezers equipped with automatic temperature recording devices, and special care is also required during transportation. To fundamentally prevent problems in the pharmaceutical distribution process, the provincial special judicial police will conduct pre-analysis and then intensively crack down on illegal activities at pharmaceutical wholesalers in the province.
The main crackdown targets include ▲ acts of lending or borrowing pharmacist licenses ▲ violations of distribution quality management standards such as quality control, storage, and compliance during pharmaceutical receipt and shipment ▲ selling or storing/displaying pharmaceuticals past their expiration or use-by dates for the purpose of sale.
Under the current 'Pharmacist Act,' lending or borrowing a pharmacist license is punishable by imprisonment of up to 5 years or a fine of up to 50 million won, and violations related to safety and quality management in pharmaceutical distribution are punishable by imprisonment of up to 1 year or a fine of up to 10 million won.
Hong Eun-gi, head of the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police for Public Welfare, emphasized, "We will prevent problems in the distribution process in advance through inspections of pharmaceutical wholesalers," and added, "We will strive to create an environment where residents can purchase safe pharmaceuticals."
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