Doctor A was caught administering 1,260 ml of propofol (anesthetic) to a patient receiving a skin procedure 33 times over 22 months. The doctor injected propofol an average of 1.5 times a month, up to 4 times at most. The patient underwent a simple procedure, so there was no need to prescribe a medical narcotic to this extent, officials said.
The Ministery of Food and Drug Safety said on the 28th it identified medical institutions suspected of abusing medical narcotics and referred 11 of them for investigation. It also referred 13 patients who shopped for propofol by visiting multiple hospitals. The inspection was based on big data analysis from the integrated narcotics control system and targeted 27 clinic-level medical institutions in the Gangnam and Seocho areas that mainly perform dermatology and plastic procedures.
Doctor B repeatedly administered 2,000 ml of propofol to a patient receiving a simple skin procedure 10 times over 10 months. Patient C was found to have received propofol 147 times at 43 hospitals from Feb. 2023 to Mar. 2026.
Propofol is an injection commonly called a sleep anesthetic. It induces sleep in about 1 to 2 minutes, and once the drug infusion stops, the patient wakes quickly, making it easy to use. But if propofol is administered excessively or the patient is highly sensitive, breathing and blood pressure can drop rapidly, posing a danger.
The Ministery of Food and Drug Safety sees a problem with excessive use of medical narcotics for light skin procedures. Abuse of medical narcotics can lead to addiction if severe. An official at the Ministery of Food and Drug Safety said, "It can cause serious harm to individuals and society, so special caution is needed."