Inspection of 176 Medical Institutions... 'Overuse and Misuse' Detected
#A plastic surgery clinic in Seoul administered 3000㎖ of propofol to two patients, which is more than four times the maximum approved dosage. Propofol can be administered up to 745㎖ for adult males for surgical anesthesia purposes.
Seoul City conducted inspections of medical institutions to detect the misuse of medical narcotics such as propofol and referred five medical institutions and 16 patients for investigation. On the 12th, the city announced that it took these measures after jointly inspecting 176 medical institutions handling propofol and zolpidem with district offices.
During the inspection, patient A was found to have been prescribed 1,232 tablets of zolpidem over 49 occasions at two medical institutions from January 2022 to June 2023, a period of 18 months. Zolpidem should not be prescribed in doses exceeding one tablet (10㎎) per day.
As a result of the investigation, patient A and the prescribing medical institutions were sent to the prosecution for violating the Narcotics Control Act. If found guilty, the prescribing doctor may face up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million won for using narcotics outside of work purposes, and the patient may face the same penalties for handling narcotics without authorization.
To prevent cases where patients visit multiple medical institutions to receive medical narcotics, Seoul City has proposed to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to add 'propofol' to the list of items requiring mandatory verification of patient medication history. Currently, doctors are only required to verify patient medication history when issuing prescriptions for fentanyl preparations.
Going forward, the city plans to conduct large-scale on-site inspections targeting about 3,000 medical institutions handling propofol. It also plans to promote awareness of medical narcotics among both medical institutions and patients.
Kim Tae-hee, Director of the Seoul City Citizen Health Bureau, said, "Seoul City will continue joint inspections with district offices and medical institutions in the second half of the year to prevent the misuse of medical narcotics," adding, "We plan to strengthen management of appropriate prescription and use of medical narcotics for the health of citizens."
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