[Exclusive] Piling medicines into a basket and setting them on the counter: "Ready to check out?" ... Misuse concerns mount, but the government remains in the dark.

Warehouse-style pharmacies criticized at parliamentary audit
But no statistics on the extent of harm
Only partial estimate from local governments: "78"

The number of new large-scale pharmacies known as "warehouse-style pharmacies" is growing, bringing a succession of side effects, including the misuse and abuse of medicines by teenagers and sales of medicines by unqualified individuals. Health authorities have said they will oversee and regulate these pharmacies, but their response has been limited to reactive measures, despite lacking even basic statistics on the sector's overall scale and the extent of harm.

People Power Party lawmaker Lee Manhee, chair of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee.

According to data the office of Lee Manhee, a People Power Party lawmaker and chair of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, received from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the ministry said it could not determine the scale of warehouse-style pharmacies in South Korea because "the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act has no separate classification or relevant definition for this type." The only figure available was a rough estimate of 78 pharmacies, based on complaints reported to local governments, as of September.

The ministry had similarly failed to compile figures on harm related to side effects and illegal activities. It said that "pharmacy-related harm and complaints are handled by the local public health centers with jurisdiction," but did not provide the number of reported cases. It offered only a partial statistic: 71 complaints related to warehouse-style pharmacies were filed through the ministry's online petition system from June last year through September.

Concerns are growing amid these administrative blind spots. Because customers can buy medicines as if shopping for groceries, without guidance from a pharmacist, cases of misuse and abuse, including teenagers taking excessive amounts of sleep aids and cold medicine, have come under scrutiny. Questions have also been raised about the practice of circumventing regulations by operating pharmacies in conjunction with distribution corporations.

Lee said, "Although cases have been reported recently of warehouse-style pharmacies selling unlimited quantities of products and non-pharmacists selling medicines, the government is effectively turning a blind eye." He added, "As chair of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, I will work to bring about substantive improvements to the system."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.