MFDS Conducts Intensive Inspection of 19 Physicians Prescribing Medical Narcotics for Misuse and Abuse

On the 16th, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced that it will conduct an intensive inspection from today until July 8th on 19 doctors suspected of violating the prescription and administration ban of three types of medical narcotics: zolpidem, propofol, and appetite suppressants.

In March, the Ministry used the Pre-Notification System to order 219 doctors handling narcotics to prohibit prescription and administration practices that deviate from the measures to prevent the misuse of narcotics such as zolpidem. The Pre-Notification System refers to providing information on doctors who exceed prescription standards by analyzing prescription data from the Narcotics Integrated Management System.

After analyzing three months of big data on narcotics handling (Narcotics Integrated Management System) of the doctors in question, the Ministry selected 19 doctors suspected of engaging in prohibited prescription and administration practices as inspection targets.

According to the measures to prevent narcotics misuse, zolpidem and appetite suppressants must not be prescribed or administered for more than one month and three months, respectively. In the case of propofol, it cannot be administered more than once a month for simple procedures or diagnoses.

The Ministry plans to request administrative action from the relevant local governments for prescription and administration cases suspected of violating the Narcotics Control Act based on the results of the intensive inspection. For a first violation, a one-month suspension of narcotics handling duties will be imposed.

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