Doctors’ Self-Medication with Narcotics Raises Concerns

Kim Mi-ae, a member of the People Power Party, pointed out on the 1st that 1,445 doctors have self-medicated with medical narcotics every year from 2020 to this year.

According to the data that Rep. Kim received from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety that day, from January to May of this year, there were 5,265 cases in which doctors and dentists prescribed narcotic drugs such as anti-anxiety drugs, appetite suppressants, and anti-epileptic drugs to individuals, totaling 9,940 cases.

From 2020 to May of this year, 1,445 doctors were confirmed to have self-administered medication without fail every year.

Revised Narcotics Control Act to Prevent Misuse

In order to prevent such misuse, the National Assembly passed a revision to the Narcotics Control Act in January to prohibit doctors and others from prescribing narcotics or psychotropic drugs for their own use or administration, taking into consideration overseas regulations such as Canada, which prohibit doctors from prescribing narcotics to themselves or their families. The law will go into effect in February next year.

Rep. Kim emphasized, “Since it has been found that over 1,400 doctors have been confirmed to have self-medicated without fail every year from 2020 to May of this year, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety must swiftly conduct a comprehensive inspection of self-prescription of narcotics,” and “We need to continue to check whether the ‘advance notification’ and the information network to prevent medical shopping for narcotics are functioning properly.”

Reporter Jeong Gyeong-su