Seoul City inspects 125 medical institutions handling propofol... Violations detected at 26 locations

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 27th that as a result of an intensive inspection of 125 medical institutions that handle propofol, violations of the Narcotic Drugs Control Act were discovered in 26 of them.

Propofol is a psychotropic drug that acts on the central nervous system, and is used for sedative anesthesia in medical settings. However, there are many cases of misuse, so strict management is required.

Since August 27, propofol has been included in the 'medical narcotic medication history confirmation system', and medical institutions are recommended to first check the patient's medication history for the past year when prescribing propofol.

Accordingly, Seoul City conducted a planned inspection from July 20 to September 4 to examine the actual status of propofol handling in medical institutions.

About 50 drug monitors were organized into two-person teams and deployed to a total of 125 locations, 5 for each autonomous district, including 78 medical institutions with a history of violations confirmed in joint city-district inspections from 2024 to 2025.

As a result of the inspection, a total of 31 violations of the law were confirmed in 26 places, or one out of five.

Violation of reporting on drug handling details was the most frequent with 22 cases, followed by use of narcotics past their expiration date, violation of regulations for disposal of accidental narcotics, and violation of filling out the storage facility inspection book with 2 cases each.

Two or more violations were confirmed in five medical institutions. Among these, one was found to have violated three types of management regulations.

Among the 78 places where violations were discovered in the past, violations were found again in 17 places, or about 22%.

The city issued administrative sanctions to medical institutions caught in this inspection, including warnings (12 places), suspension of drug handling operations (14 places), and fines (3 places) depending on the content and severity.

They also announced that they plan to file charges against the five places found to have serious violations.

Cho Young-chang, director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Civil Health Bureau, said, "As medical shopping and misuse of propofol have emerged as a serious social problem, management and supervision of whether medical institutions treat it appropriately is important." He added, "Seoul City will do its best to inspect the management status and strengthen follow-up management so that a healthy medical environment can be maintained."