Doctors failing to manage propofol properly to be suspended

Courtesy of gettyimagesbank

By Kim Hyun-bin

Doctors who fail to properly prescribe and manage propofol will have their medical licenses suspended and their clinics closed for at least six months, according to the government's planned enforcement regulations. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Thursday that it will collect expert and public opinions through Sept. 8 on its planned revision of the drug management law to strengthen punishments for violators, and will finalize and implement it afterward.

The revision includes toughened administrative measures for people who make, use, purchase or sell narcotics used for medical purposes, such as propofol, if they do so for other purposes or make false reports about the use and management of the drugs.

Under the revision, medical staffers who administer such narcotics without proper prescriptions or draw up false prescriptions will have their licenses suspended for six months for their first offense, and 12 months for second violations.

Those failing to preserve medical records for two years will also face three months to a year of suspension of operation.

According to the ministry, the strengthened measure comes as there have been endless cases of narcotics abuse at medical facilities, especially illegal use of propofol. It is commonly used to induce or maintain anesthesia during surgeries, tests, or procedures, but a small dose can make people feel euphoria and become addicted.

In May, the ministry and the prosecution inspected 52 medical facilities where narcotics abuse was suspected, and 27 were caught in violation of the law. The ministry requested local governments to slap administrative measures on four of them, and asked the prosecution to further investigate the remaining 23.

The 23 clinics allegedly administered propofol to patients without prescription or other medical records, or after falsely recording its use on the records.

The ministry also asked the prosecution to investigate 49 patients there who allegedly abused propofol. Some of them allegedly visited multiple hospitals in one day to get propofol, while others allegedly got prescriptions by borrowing others' names.