Propofol found at Dr. A's clinic [Provided by Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. Reproduction and database prohibited]

A doctor who repeatedly administered propofol, even using the names of foreigners and families of addicts, has been indicted while in custody.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office's Violent Crimes Investigation Division (Chief Prosecutor Sohn Chang-beom) announced on the 31st that Dr. A, a pediatrician, was arrested and indicted on the 29th on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act and the Resident Registration Act.

Six hospital staff members, including a skincare therapist who administered propofol under A's direction, and five addicts were indicted without detention on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act. Twenty-one addicts, who were deemed to have a possibility of returning to society, were given a suspension of indictment.

Dr. A is accused of illegally administering 180,000ml of propofol to 32 people on approximately 4,700 occasions at his clinic in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, from November 2020 to the present. Six of the addicts who received propofol from Dr. A reportedly took their own lives due to worsening depression.

According to the prosecution, Dr. A attracted entertainment industry workers and businessmen to his clinic by advertising a relatively low price of 300,000 won per propofol administration.

Dr. A suggested to addicts, "If you bring the resident registration numbers of your family and acquaintances, I will administer more propofol," in an attempt to evade the surveillance of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's Narcotics Integrated Management System.

Dr. A is reported to have used the resident registration numbers of 121 individuals obtained in this manner to prescribe propofol a total of 1,272 times. Not content with this, he also used lists of over 2,000 foreigners whose information he had directly purchased to administer propofol consecutively, sometimes more than 10 times a day.

The prosecution stated that they are pursuing the recovery of criminal proceeds, having identified that Dr. A purchased luxury goods and imported cars with earnings amounting to several billion won.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office has expanded its specialized investigation team for medical narcotics, established in February of last year, to two teams, strengthening its cooperation with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and enhancing its crime response capabilities.

A prosecutor official stated, "Dr. A abandoned his duties as a doctor and committed a severe moral hazard crime by using patients solely as a means of profit and driving them into drug addiction," adding, "We will continue to do our best to strictly punish medical narcotic crimes and support the normal reintegration of addicts into society." (Yonhap News)