34 Hospitals and 16 Patients Caught for Misuse of 'Mayakryu Jintongjeu' Painkillers

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] A total of 34 medical institutions and 16 patients were found to have misused or improperly handled narcotic analgesics such as fentanyl.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 3rd that, based on big data analysis from the Narcotics Integrated Management System, it inspected 49 medical institutions suspected of overprescribing narcotic analgesics and requested investigations and administrative actions after identifying violations.

Narcotic analgesics include fentanyl and oxycodone. These are medical narcotics in the opioid class, like morphine, which can cause physical and psychological dependence, and therefore should only be used for patients experiencing severe pain.

Among the 34 institutions found in this inspection, 12 institutions (involving 16 patients) were suspected of prescribing or administering narcotic analgesics improperly or for purposes other than work, and investigations were requested.

One clinic detected in this inspection prescribed and administered fentanyl patches a total of 243 times (2,430 patches) to patient A over approximately 27 months from July 2019 to November 2021. Patient B received oxycodone prescriptions and administrations a total of 222 times (6,824 tablets) from 19 medical institutions over about 15 months from January 2021 to March 2022.

Twenty-nine medical institutions that violated the obligation to report narcotics handling details or failed to prepare storage inspections are scheduled for administrative sanctions. Additionally, one institution with discrepancies in narcotics inventory was subject to both administrative sanctions and prosecution requests.

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, narcotic analgesics such as fentanyl and oxycodone have a high potential for misuse, so the initial prescription should be short-term, within 7 days per prescription. For additional prescriptions, it is recommended to prescribe within one month, with a maximum of up to three months.

The Ministry urged medical associations and related organizations to comply with safety use standards when prescribing and administering narcotic analgesics and to check patients' medical narcotics usage history through the 'Narcotics Medical Shopping Prevention Information Network' before prescribing to prevent excessive or duplicate prescriptions.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.