[Dr Mladen Jankovic - personality and work (1831-1885)].

Dr Mladen Janković was born in Kanjiza, in the district of Banat, in 1831. He completed the Hungarian High School in Segedin, and graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in Budapest, in 1856. Upon graduation, he moved to Serbia, where he was assigned to the position of a physician in the town of Krusevac. One year later, he was urgently transferred from Krusevac and appointed a regional physician in the town of Jagodina. After succeeding in eradicating local epidemics there, he was urgently transferred to the town of Kragujevac. Dr Mladen Janković was the fourth regional physician in Kragujevac, from 1861 to 1865. As an expert on the issues of health legislation and health service organisation in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Dr Mladen Janković was again transferred to Belgrade in 1865, to the position of the City Administration physician. Due to the fact that the Mental Asylum "Dom za s uma sisave", which was founded in 1861, required a professional guidance, Dr Janković was appointed Director of this psychiatric institution in the same year. Namely, it was known that Dr Janković was appointed a temporary Director and physician at the Psychiatric Hospital "Dom za s uma sisave" by a Decree issued by Mihailo M. Obrenović, upon request of the Minister for Internal Affairs. He maintained this position for sixteen years. He prepared himself for this duty in Germany, with the leading psychiatrist at the time, Wilhelm Gruzinger. Shortly afterwards, Dr Janković managed to adapt the health service and protocols for the treatment of psychiatric patients to the European standards at the time. Being a gifted, intelligent physician, with broad interests and experience, he was elected President of the Serbian Medical Society in 1873. During his term of office, the activities of the Serbian Archives were improved. Dr Mladen Janković was, at the same time, a member of several committees that were in charge of managing the health service in Serbia at that period. Among other merits, his organisational ability as the Inspector of the Health Institutes is worth mentioning. In that capacity, he re-organised eight district hospitals and suggested purchasing the necessary equipment. He also had certain experience in diplomacy, representing his country at the Vienna Congress, in 1881. On that occasion, he was also a veterinary medicine representative of the Kingdom of Serbia. It has been widely acknowledged that Dr Mladen Janković was a respectful figure in Serbia, and that his life and work are incorporated in the establishment of health service in Serbia.