A doctor in his 50s has been arrested and sent to prosecutors for habitually stealing and administering propofol in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, by creating false prescriptions using patient identities or inflating dosage amounts.

A nurse's aide and an acquaintance who assisted the doctor with the illegal administration, as well as a patient who hopped between multiple medical institutions to administer propofol, have also been booked.

According to the Gyeongangnam-do Provincial Police Agency on the 6th, doctor A has been arrested and sent to prosecutors on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act.

Doctor A is accused of habitually administering propofol—a medical narcotic—at the medical facility he operates in Gimhae from November of last year to June of this year.

Police investigation results showed that to cover up the amount of propofol he used, Doctor A embezzled the drug by creating false prescriptions under the names of patients who did not actually need prescriptions or by inflating the recorded dosage amounts.

In the process, the personal information of 33 foreign patients was also exploited. The amount of propofol embezzled in this manner reaches approximately 28,380 mg, and the police believe that Doctor A directly administered most of it.

One acquaintance and two nurse's aides were also booked on charges of assisting Doctor A with propofol administration. A patient, B, was additionally booked on charges of habitually administering propofol while roaming around multiple medical institutions.

Investigations revealed that patient B received a total of 10,980 mg of propofol across 11 medical institutions, even visiting multiple hospitals in a single day to receive up to about 10 bottles at once.

The police plan to continue their investigation targeting other medical institutions that administered propofol to patient B. They also plan to support treatment and rehabilitation linked with the Korea Association Against Drug Abuse to prevent patient B from reoffending and to assist in social reintegration.

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