Sanitetska služba u Srbiji do Prvog svetskog rata

Abstract

Modern medicine in Serbia began to develop only after the liberation from the Turks in the Second Serbian Uprising of 1815. The first European-educated doctors came to Serbia in 1819, by order of Prince Milos. The military medical service, in charge of systematic treatment and care of wounded and sick Serbian soldiers, was founded in 1835. The first military doctors and chiefs of Serbian medicine were foreigners, Dr. Emerich Lindenmeier (1806-1884) and Dr. Carlo Belloni (1812-1878), who founded military hospitals in Belgrade, Ćuprija and Paraćin. During the Serbian-Turkish wars (1876-1878), Serbia had only 19 military doctors for about 130,000 soldiers, the divisions had only dressing stations for first aid, and there was also a medical ship for the evacuation of the wounded. Foreign doctors were succeeded by Serbian doctors educated in Vienna, Dr. Vladan Djordjevic (Chief of Medical Services 1877-1884), Dr. Mihajlo Mika Markovic (Chief of Medical Services 1886-1903) and Dr. Lazar Gencic (Chief of Medical Services 1909-1915). By 1885 (Serbian-Bulgarian war), the number of military doctors was increased to one doctor per 1,000 soldiers, and each division (5,000 soldiers) received a field hospital with 200 beds and a medical company with 5 doctors and 100 paramedics. Before the Balkan War (1912), 5 permanent military hospitals with surgical wards were opened, and the medical companies of the divisions had 4 doctors and 450 paramedics, and 4 field hospitals for 400 wounded. For the first time, ambulance trains were used for evacuation and treatment of the wounded. The hygienic-epidemiological service was neglected, and dysentery, typhoid fever and malaria were frequent: in 1913, over 5,000 Serbian soldiers died of cholera alone.