Minister of Health, Tomica Milosavljevic, has announced that the pharmaceutical market in Serbia is today five times bigger than in 2002, but it remains part of the healthcare system and thus specific when compared with all other industries.

"A pharmacy will never be a shop that sells medicaments, nor the pharmaceutical industry will be similar to other industries, especially military industry with which it is sometimes compared,” the minister said at the Third Annual Conference on Pharmacy.

Milosavljević says that the pharmaceutical market has a growth tendency and it is important for Serbia to successfully implement all standards referring to manufacture of raw materials and production.

He repeated that there were no rational reasons for being against the vaccine for the new flu.

“Vaccination reduces the number of deaths and serious cases of the disease, and it preserves the national infrastructure and economy. The only certain way for preserving the national economy is vaccination of at least two thirds of citizens,” Milosavljevic says, adding that everyone should make a decision on vaccination on their own, but that fear and ignorance are reasons for refusing the vaccine.