Belgrade Pharmacy Pays 16 Overdue Salaries, More Still Owed
The payout of 16 overdue salaries to Belgrade Pharmacy staff, about 900 million dinars, began on September 18. Opstanak says one and a half salaries are still owed and no medicine has arrived.
The Opstanak union, which represents Belgrade Pharmacy employees, confirmed to Nova ekonomija that the payout of 16 overdue salaries began on September 18 and should be finished by Monday, September 21. The debt totals about 900 million dinars, which besides salaries also covers contributions, severance pay and length of service bonuses. The last salary employees had received before this was the April 2025 advance payment, meaning part of the debt had gone unpaid for almost a year and a half.
- the payout of 16 overdue salaries began on September 18, with a deadline of Monday, September 21
- the total debt was about 900 million dinars, including contributions, severance pay and length of service bonuses
- even after the payout, employees are still owed one and a half more salaries
- according to the union, no medicine has reached the pharmacies yet
Along with the salaries themselves, the payout includes contributions, which the union says will extend employees’ health insurance through the end of the year. The agreement to make the payment was reached in late July, at a meeting between union representatives and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, with the funds secured through a rebalance of the Belgrade City Health Secretariat’s budget.
What Was Agreed for the Coming Months
Under the agreement with Vucic, Belgrade Pharmacy will keep operating for the next three to six months with state support. If it runs without losses during that period, it continues under the same terms. If it does post losses, the institution goes into concession. Opstanak union president Jelena Sikuljak says President Vucic promised in late July that funds for day to day operations would be secured by mid August, and that settling the debt to suppliers would not fall on Belgrade Pharmacy itself.
Even after the payout of 16 salaries, employees are still owed one and a half more, says union member Milina Maric. She told Nova ekonomija:
This was supposed to be resolved by stocking the pharmacies with medicine, medical supplies and the necessary raw materials.
According to Maric, the deadline for this was, under the agreement, mid August, but to date not a single box of medicine has entered the pharmacies. Sikuljak, speaking separately from Maric’s statement on supply, says a review of the Health Secretariat’s rebalanced budget shows the procurement funds have been planned, that a public tender for medicine and raw materials is expected soon, and that Belgrade Pharmacy should start placing orders next week. She adds that normal operations at the institution are expected to resume in October.
What Comes Next for Belgrade Pharmacy
The next step is a public tender for medicine, medical supplies, raw materials and packaging needed for in house drug preparation, without which, Maric says, the pharmacies cannot earn enough on their own to cover employee salaries. Sikuljak says most of the agreed conditions have been met so far, while the medicine supply is running behind the deadline the union side had cited.
Until the tender goes through, the institution stays dependent on state assistance, and the three to six month window agreed in late July keeps running. Whether Belgrade Pharmacy operates without losses during that period will decide whether the institution stays in state hands or goes into concession.
