By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter

When it comes to bribery in the medical field, it is mostly the companies offering the bribes that are subject to prosecution in the local pharmaceutical industry. In the future, however, those who accept kickbacks in return for prescribing certain drugs may also have to worry about being imprisoned.

Rep. Choi Young-hee of the main opposition Democratic Party said Wednesday that she had proposed a bill that, if passed into law, would impose a maximum five-year jail term or 20 million won in fines on those accepting such bribes.

Those that get caught would also have to pay up to an additional fine of 50 times the amount of the kickbacks they received.

``The practice of bribery in the pharmaceutical industry is not just personal deals between companies and doctors. The practice has become a serious social malaise of late and we need to fix it as soon as possible,'' Choi said.

``On top of the fine or jail term, we need to discourage any potential rule breakers by levying monetary penalties of up to 50 times the money they take illegally. It's the `economics of crime.'''

The economics of crime refers to the hypothesis that the probability and severity of punishment have a deterrent effect on potential criminals based on the benefit-cost framework.

For example, potential bribe-taking doctors compare the benefits that they would gain by taking illegal rebates to the costs they may have to burden. As the likelihood that they will be caught or the punishment rise, the desire to commit wrongdoings decreases.

Put in terms of basic economics, a high price of crime scares away prospective criminals.

Thus far, only the drug makers have been subject to jail terms when they are caught offering bribes to doctors or pharmacists. Plus, they also have to reduce the prices of their drugs by 20 percent in accordance with the recently introduced set of regulations.

However, there are no specific regulations that penalize those who take the kickbacks, which Choi says causes high drug prices and affects the lives of those involved.

``Some salespeople committed suicide recently due, reportedly, to issues related to the bribes. We are required to take measures to clear away the problems,'' Choi said.

``I expect that the National Assembly may pass the bill this month. Then, after the six-month grace period, the regulations would go into effect midway through this year,'' the first-term lawmaker said.

Also included in the bill are measures to protect whistle blowers - those who report bribes offered by pharmaceutical companies to the authorities.

voc200@koreatimes.co.kr