Background: Left over medication widely used in hospitals for the treatment of various diseases including malignant illnesses, stand to represent a hazardous form of healthcare waste. According to regulations in the Republic of Serbia dating back to 2009, all healthcare facilities are obligated to separate, label and safely put away said leftover medication, i.e. forward it to authorised operators in order to be securely shipped and properly taken care of abroad. Pharmaceutical waste can lead to dire consequences on a patient's or medical employee's health, as well as cause simultaneous damage to the environment, both work and not. The main aim of this research is the assessment of the state of Serbian hospitals as is, from the perspective of dealing with pharmaceutical waste. Also, the research's objective is to examine the factors that affect the way healthcare waste is handled and the respectful aftermath of their alterations in healthcare institutions. Methods: For the realization of this survey, a special questionnaire was developed, concocted with regard to the margins set out by WHO, in order to promptly assess the management of healthcare waste in hospitals, which had beforehand been pretested. The research was carried out as a cross-sectional study of the representative hospital sample of the secondary and tertiary level of healthcare facilities in the public domain, in November 2014. Results: The questionnaire was completed by 60 hospitals, which typifies a representative number of said facilities in the Republic of Serbia and which covers more than 85% of inpatient capacity within the public sector's network of healthcare hospitals defined by the Bylaw (referred to as the Network of healthcare facilities in Serbia). Conclusion: Tertiary level hospitals, meaning clinical centres, clinicalmedical centres and institutes that offer highly specialized healthcare services and have an admittedly larger number of hospital beds, have a more evolved system of sorting pharmaceutical waste and do away with grander amounts of it on a yearly basis. Establishing a safe and law-abiding management of pharmaceutical waste in hospitals will come to wholly enhance the management of hazardous waste in the healthcare system.

Background: Pharmaceutical products can become a potential source of poisoning. The improper disposal of unused medicines is a growing problem throughout the world, with a manifold effect on the cost of health care, public health and the environment. The objectives of this research are the overview of current situation of pharmaceutical waste management in the pharmacy sector in the Republic of Serbia, attitudes and knowledge of pharmacists on the matter and the measures they should undertake in order to make the general public aware of the significance of proper disposal of medications. Methods: The research was conducted as a cross-sectional study on entire population of state pharmacies at the primary health care level in the Republic of Serbia, in March 2013. Primary data were collected by filling in a 14 questions questionnaire that was specially designed for this research. Results: The questionnaire was completed by 683 (34 healthcare institutions -pharmacy) pharmacies. According to the data obtained, 76.5% of pharmacies collect expired medicines that people bring there in order to get them put away, while 23.5% pharmacies assert that they do not collect pharmaceutical waste from households at all. Conclusion: The pharmacies have not started to implement their legal obligation of collecting pharmaceutical waste from the citizens yet, at least not in the full range. The development and practical implementation of adequate procedures and facilities for the disposal of this type of waste represents the key step towards the decrease of pharmaceutical waste in the environment.

SummaryIntroductionThe pharmacists played an important role in the development of biochemistry as applied chemistry in Serbia. What is more, the first seven state chemists in Serbia were pharmacists. State chemists performed the chemical-toxicological analysis as well as some medical and biochemical ones. When it comes to the education of medical biochemists as health workers, the period after the beginning of the second half of the twentieth century should be taken into account because that is when the training of pharmaceutical staff of the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade, begins on the territory of Serbia. This paper presents the development of medical biochemistry through the development of curriculum, personnel and literature since the foundation of the Faculty of Pharmacy in Serbia until today.ObjectiveThe aim of this paper is to present the historical development of biochemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade, through analysis of three indicators: undergraduate and postgraduate education of medical biochemists, teaching literature and professional associations and trade associations.MethodThe method of direct data was applied in this paper. Also, desktop analysis was used for analyzing of secondary data, regulations, curricula, documents and bibliographic material. Desktop research was conducted and based on the following sources: Archives of the University of Belgrade-Faculty of Pharmacy, Museum of the History of Pharmacy at the University of Belgrade-Faculty of Pharmacy, the Society of Medical Biochemists of Serbia and the Serbian Chamber of Biochemists.Results and conclusionThe curricula, the Bologna process of improving education, the expansion of the range of subjects, the number of students, professional literature for teaching biochemistry, as well as professional associations and trade associations are presented through the results.

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