SERBIA

WHERE DID 500 MILLION FOR SALARIES GO? Shocking discovery at a meeting between the minister and Apoteka Beograd workers!

by Serbian Times16. January 2026.16. January 2026.

The protest of the “Opstanak” union over the poor situation in which Apoteka Beograd has found itself for months ended in front of the Ministry of Health. The gathered workers were received for half an hour by Minister of Health Zlatibor Lončar. Union president Jelena Šikuljak told N1 that the minister presented a business proposal that would solve a major problem for them, but that he also shocked them with information related to their outstanding salaries.

“We had previously indicated to Minister Zlatibor Lončar that we would propose several business models that could pull us out of this situation. He listened to us and presented a new proposal, which we believe is a good one. That proposal would preserve what makes Apoteka Beograd important to the citizens of Belgrade – namely magistral galenic medicines. They (the Ministry) will advocate for us to receive all the necessary chemicals and packaging, and will even mediate with suppliers to provide us with medicines, so that we can help ourselves, that is, get back on our feet on our own,” Jelena Šikuljak said.

Asked what would happen with the outstanding salaries, she said the minister told them that this issue was not within his jurisdiction.

“However, he told us something we did not know – that the Government had provided money in March, when there was a debt rescheduling with Apoteka Beograd’s suppliers, for the payment of our outstanding salaries. We did not see a single dinar of that money. It amounts to about 500 million dinars. Someone was playing with that money. We were all surprised, both sides – them by the fact that they had given the money, thinking that we had received our salaries, and us by the fact that we had received the money, but we did not receive our salaries. I hope the minister will initiate an investigation into what happened to that money,” she said.

She continued that she assumes the money was given to the city Secretariat for Health.

By Wednesday, she continued, they are to submit a written proposal with an assessment of real costs to the minister, so that he can forward that proposal to the Government.

“That would save us, that would solve our problem,” she said.