Portable medicine chests and supply of medicines in Serbia from the 1830s to the mid-20th century: analysis of medicines list.

Abstract

The first portable medicine chests appeared in Serbia immediately after liberation from Ottoman rule around 1830. The network of portable medicine chests grew very quickly and became the first effective public health method of supplying medicines and medical items to people living in cities without community pharmacies and to the rural population in villages. According to their purposes, three categories of portable medicine chests could be identified: Portable medicine chests owned by physicians or veterinarians in the cities, portable medicine chests established by the Department of Workers Health Insurance, and portable medicine chests of the Health Cooperatives that operated in the villages This paper analyzes all three types of portable medicine chests. We specifically examine the regulations concerning the management of portable medicine chests, their content, and supply chains of medicines from the third decade of the 19 th century through the first half of the 20th century. We conclude that portable medicine chests represent a specific type of pharmacy in the territory of Serbia that provided very effective medical service. The medicines in these pharmacies were handled and dispensed to patients by physicians not by pharmacists. Patent medicines, compounded medicines, sanitary items and bandage materials were dispensed as well. Future research is needed to ascertain if physicians who owned or worked with the portable medicine chests actually prepared and compounded simple preparations as they were specified in the laws.