“Kickbacks from pharmaceutical firms to doctors at large hospitals have long been an open secret,” said an industry official. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean police have reassigned an investigator specializing in medical crimes to reexamine allegations that resident doctors at a major Seoul hospital received illicit kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies, signaling renewed scrutiny of a case long criticized for lackluster enforcement.
According to officials and reporting by Yonhap News Agency, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency last month transferred the case from Nowon Police Station to the medical crime unit within the agency’s metropolitan investigation division. The move follows years of stalled or inconclusive investigations and growing criticism that local police had been reluctant to pursue the matter.
The case centers on former resident doctors at Inje University’s Sanggye Paik Hospital, who are suspected of accepting dinners and other entertainment expenses between 2019 and 2021 from several drug company representatives, allegedly under the pretext of product briefings. The allegations were first reported to police in November 2021.
Nowon Police Station, which oversees the hospital’s jurisdiction, initially handled the investigation. The station twice concluded there was no basis for prosecution — in September 2022, and again in February 2023 after reopening the probe at the request of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. Each time, critics accused the police of lacking resolve.
Responding to persistent complaints, the metropolitan police leadership directed Nowon to conduct a third probe in March 2023. The station sent the case to prosecutors that November, but prosecutors ordered supplementary investigation, citing gaps in the police file.
Doctors enter a hospital in Seoul on May 3, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
In June, prosecutors brought summary indictments against nine individuals, including employees at three mid-sized drug companies and several physicians. However, the charges excluded the most contentious issue: allegations that millions of won in non-covered vitamin injections were prescribed in connection with kickbacks.
The Inje University foundation, which operates the hospital, received a suspended indictment, prompting accusations of overly lenient enforcement stemming from weak police work.
Public criticism intensified as the controversy reached the National Assembly. During an audit hearing in October, Rep. Kim Sung-hoe of the opposition Democratic Party accused Nowon Police Station of dereliction of duty.
Kim said investigators had confirmed that a senior hospital doctor prescribed 240 million won (about US$180,000) worth of vitamin products to 428 inpatients unrelated to necessary treatment, and had received written apologies from four residents — yet still issued a no-charge decision without providing a formal disposition.
After additional pressure, the case was moved from Nowon to the Seoul agency’s white-collar crime unit on October 24 and has since been reassigned to the medical crime team within the metropolitan mobile investigation division — a group known for handling major medical-related cases, including the 2017 investigation into the deaths of four infants at Ewha Womans University Medical Center.
The reassignment raises expectations that investigators will pursue the financial aspects of the vitamin prescription allegations more aggressively and examine potential ties between hospitals and regional police authorities.
“Kickbacks from pharmaceutical firms to doctors at large hospitals have long been an open secret,” said an industry official. “If police have the will, the facts are traceable — and possible connections between big hospitals and local police should also be examined.”
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
