150 years of the Serbian Medical Society

Abstract

May 4, 2022 marks the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Serbian Medical Society. For a nation, unlike ours, that has lived in peace for centuries, it would be an event of exceptional national significance and a reason for pride and satisfaction. In the context of difficult history of our people, which has lasted for centuries, such an event is incomparably more important. With such endurance and success, the Serbian Medical Society has become one of the oldest and most valuable institutions of our people and our state. It was founded on April 22, according to the Julian calendar (May 4, according to the Gregorian calendar) in 1872, during a century in which, after the failed First Serbian Uprising, the Serbs fought in the Second Uprising to become a vassal principality within the Ottoman Empire, and succeeded ? not merely using weapons, but also with wisdom and patience. Upon triumphing, its newly forming wisdom and its people first started to dream of full independence, and henceforth of the restoration of the Serbian state within its historical borders. Today, it is difficult to imagine the foresight and courage of the Serbian doctors to establish the Serbian Medical Society at a time when Serbia had only 63 doctors, seven of whom were ?masters of surgery? (medical assistants) and one dentist, all that at time when doctors of Serbian origin could be counted on the fingers of one hand. The Serbian Medical Society was founded soon after, or even before, medical associations in some advanced European countries for which the tragic history of the Serbian people was something they could hardly believe.