50+ Health Vocabulary In Serbian You Should Know

The time has come to talk about body and health vocabulary in Serbian as well as some useful Serbian words and phrases related to Health and Illnesses. I hope you’ll never need them, but better be prepared than sorry as Serbians like to say. 

So, let’s get started. 

 

The Body

Health Vocabulary In Serbian: Health And Illnesses

Common Illnesses And Symptoms In Serbian

To effectively communicate your health concerns in Serbian, it’s helpful to be familiar with common illnesses and symptoms. So let’s kick off with some useful Serbian words to refer to when you suffer from aches and pains:

English	Serbian
Illness	Bolest
Fever	Groznica
Headache	Glavobolja
Stomach ache	Bol u stomaku
Cough	Kašalj
Sore throat	Bolno grlo
Allergy	Alergija
Fatigue	Umor
Nausea	Mučnina
Vomiting	Povraćanje

Medical Professionals And Facilities

In case you need medical attention, knowing the Serbian terms for various medical professionals and facilities can be highly useful. Here are some important words and phrases related to healthcare providers:

English	Serbian
Doctor	Doktor
Nurse	Medicinska sestra
Hospital	Bolnica
Clinic	Klinika
Pharmacy	Apoteka
Dentist	Zubar
Surgeon	Hirurg
Specialist	Specijalista
Emergency	Hitna pomoć
Ambulance	Ambulanta

Expressing Health Conditions

When describing your health condition, it’s crucial to accurately convey specific symptoms or discomforts. The following phrases will help you express yourself when discussing your health in Serbian.

English	Serbian
I’m not feeling well	Ne osećam se dobro
I have a headache/stomach ache	Imam glavobolju/bol u stomaku
My stomach hurts	Imam bolove u stomaku
My head hurts	Imam glavobolju
I have a pain in my chest	Bole me pluća
I feel dizzy	Osećam se vrtoglavica
I have a fever	Imam groznicu
My nose is running	Curi mi nos
My throat hurts	Boli me grlo
My legs hurt	Bole me noge
I need a doctor	Trebam doktora
Can you recommend a good clinic?	Možete li preporučiti dobru kliniku?
Is there a pharmacy nearby?	Ima li apoteka u blizini?
I need medication for my allergy	Trebam lek za alergiju

Emergency Situations

In case of emergencies, understanding and using emergency-related vocabulary can be critical. Here are some key phrases to remember:

English	Serbian
Help!	Pomoć!
Call an ambulance!	Pozovite hitnu pomoć!
I’ve been injured	Povredio/la sam se
I need immediate medical assistance	Trebam hitnu medicinsku pomoć
Is there a hospital nearby?	Ima li bolnica u blizini?
Where is the nearest emergency room?	Gde je najbliža hitna soba?

How Serbian Health Care System Works

Health care institutions perform health care activities on primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.

Primary level: These are institutions that citizens can go to without instructions: health center, pharmacy, student polyclinic, etc. The most important primary level institution is a health center.

Secondary level: If your health center is not able to provide you appropriate specialist health care, your doctor will refer you to the secondary level (hospital). In hospitals of which there are 77 in Serbia, each patient will be provided health care that is required: outpatient treatment (examination by a specialist doctor in a polyclinic) or hospital treatment, that is, lying in that hospital.

Patients are referred to the hospital when their health problem goes beyond the technical home health conditions or if expert opinion is required at higher levels.

Tertiary level: When a health problem exceeds technical requirements hospitals or need a professional opinion of the highest level health care, the patient is referred to clinical centers of which there are 4 in our country (Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, and Nis) or one of the clinics (6), or institutes (16) or KBC (4).

It is the tertiary and last level in the health care system in Serbia.

For all visits to the doctor tertiary level required

You have been instructed by your doctor from the health center that he or she issued on the basis of a recommendation from a doctor from the hospital. This instruction must be certified by the competent branches of the Republic Institute for health insurance.

 

Health Insurance In Serbia

In Serbia, every citizen has the right to health insurance. Citizens who have incomes pay for their health insurance, while for citizens who do not have them,

Health Insurance is paid for by the Republic of Serbia.

We pay for health insurance according to financial possibilities, and we use health care according to their needs.

By paying for health insurance while we are healthy, we provide for ourselves and our family health services in case we get sick, get hurt, or have some emergency interventions, even when we run out of income.

How Serbian Health Insurance Works For Foreign Citizens

The issue of health care of foreigners is regulated by the Law on Health Care.

Foreign citizens, stateless persons and persons who have been recognized as refugees or granted asylum in accordance with international and domestic legislation, who are permanently residing or temporarily residing in the Republic of Serbia, or who pass through the territory of the Republic, have the right to health care, in accordance with The Law on Health Care, unless otherwise determined by an international agreement.

Persons who have the status of refugees from the territory of the republics of the former Yugoslavia exercise the right to health care in accordance with the regulations governing the area of ​​refugees.

Foreigners who meet the conditions for acquiring the status of insured in accordance with the law governing the field of compulsory health insurance receive health care in accordance with these regulations.

The health care of foreigners is provided in the way in which the health care is provided to the citizens of the Republic.

The health institution and private practice, as well as health workers, are obliged to provide emergency medical assistance to the foreigner.

The foreigners themselves bear the costs for the provided emergency medical assistance, as well as for other types of health services that are provided to the foreigner at their request.

For the use of health services, the foreigner pays a fee according to the price list of the health institution, or the price list of the private practice.

From the budget of the Republic, a fee is paid to health institutions and private practice for the indicated emergency medical care to a foreigner, if the health institution or private practice could not collect that fee from the foreigner because he does not have the necessary funds.

For the use of health care of foreign insured persons during their temporary stay in the Republic of Serbia, the branch in whose territory they have a temporary stay is issued by Zdravstveni list – Form INO-1 based on the certificate of the foreign social insurance provider, issued on the appropriate form.

 

Final Thoughts

I hope you have learned how to name parts of the human body as well as some useful Serbian words and phrases related to Health and Illnesses. As I already said, I hope you’ll never need to use those words. However, if you want to master health vocabulary or to know how to express feelings in Serbian, you should consider using language learning apps. For example, Ling App will help you learn Serbian in a fast, easy, and fun way.