Europe region: Serbia

The Republic of Serbia is a middle-income country in Southeast Europe that includes part of the Pannonian Plain and the central part of the Balkan Peninsula. The total population in the Republic of Serbia is 6.871547 million, according to the estimates of the National Statistical Office of Serbia in 2020. It shows a trend of depopulation (−6.7%) and continuous growth of the elderly population (21%). The main health problems of the population are cardiovascular diseases and malignant tumors that account for more than two-thirds of all deaths in Serbia (2019). Stroke has been the second leading cause of death in both sex over the last decade. The annual incidence of stroke is 1.72 per 1000. Mortality due to stroke per year is 1.49/per 1000 with a significantly decreasing trend. Over 100 general hospitals neurology clinics and stroke units provide acute stroke treatment for 40% of total stroke patients. Rehabilitation is carried out at all levels of healthcare. Of the total number of hospital days in all hospitals, 13% were in physical and rehabilitation medicine departments, of which a smaller number are university centers. Stroke patients make up 15.7% of the total number of hospitalized patients in rehabilitation units. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a reduction in the number of hospitalized and outpatients involved in rehabilitation. Neurorehabilitation is an essential segment of rehabilitation that is carried out by a multidisciplinary team and with a trend to introduce new technologies, such as rehabilitation robotics, to train and assess sensorimotor functions. Robotic rehabilitation devices are implemented mainly within research studies conducted in collaboration with university partners (science and research organizations), with technology development companies, or within EU projects. The main obstacles to the broader use of robotic technology are financial reasons and the potential to reduce rehabilitation services covered by the National Health Fund.