Vol 38, No 2 (2009)
Mehmed Sami Serbic (1847-1918)
was one of the “Viennese pupils”, a group of talented young men that were sent by the Topal Osman Pasha, the Governor of the Bosnian province, to Vienna and Constantinople to study medicine. He finished his studies in 1873 (facsimile of the Constantinople diploma on the left half of the picture)and returned to Bosnia. In 1874 his initiative to establish hospital “Hastahana” in Tuzla was a success and hospital was opened in autumn of 1874. When the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexed the region there were only 6 or 7 physicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina. By the new law, Serbic was allowed to practice only after recertification of diploma in Vienna in 1879.
Serbic enjoyed a great reputation in Tuzla region and is acknowledged as the founder of the first hospital in Tuzla.
