'Yoo Ah-in Drug', 76% Prescribed at Gangnam-gu Clinics [2023 National Audit]

Recently, it was revealed that 76% of the medical ketamine prescriptions in Seoul were made at clinics located in Gangnam-gu, following the habitual drug use scandal involving famous actor Yoo Ah-in.

According to data received on the 13th from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety by Seo Young-seok, a member of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, a comparison of medical narcotics prescriptions at clinic-level medical institutions in Seoul and Gangnam-gu from 2020 to June 2023 showed that 76% of ketamine, 44% of propofol, and 31% of fentanyl (excluding injections) prescriptions were concentrated at clinics in Gangnam-gu.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In particular, about 780,000 patients were prescribed ketamine at clinics located in Gangnam-gu over the past three and a half years.

Considering that the number of patients prescribed ketamine nationwide at clinics was 1.42 million and 1.06 million in Seoul clinics during the same period, Seo pointed out that most patients are concentrated in Gangnam-gu.

For propofol, the number of patients prescribed at clinics in Gangnam-gu was 2.18 million, with a prescription volume of 5.04 million units. This accounts for 34% of the total number of patients prescribed propofol at clinics in Seoul and about 44% of the total prescription volume.

Fentanyl, excluding injections, also showed a pronounced concentration of prescriptions at clinics in Gangnam-gu. During the same period, 1,328 patients were prescribed fentanyl at clinics in Gangnam-gu, with a prescription volume of 61,416 units. This represents 26% of the total number of patients and 31% of the total prescription volume at clinics in Seoul.

Meanwhile, midazolam and the narcotic analgesic oxycodone, which were found to have been taken by a man in his 20s who drove a Rolls-Royce under the influence and seriously injured a pedestrian in Gangnam recently, also showed very high patient prescription ratios at clinics in Gangnam-gu alongside ketamine, propofol, and fentanyl.

Assemblyman Seo Young-seok said, "Eighty percent of ketamine prescribed in Seoul is in Gangnam-gu, but I do not know where the government is currently waging the ‘war on drugs.’ Given the severe concentration of medical narcotics prescriptions in Gangnam-gu, thorough management and monitoring are necessary to prevent a specific area from becoming a drug reservoir."

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