BELGRADE, August 8 - Pharmaceuticals of local manufacturers, who will be granted funds from a new EU donation, will be put out to tender at the end of the week, Serbian Assistant Health Minister Predrag Obradovic told Tanjug news agency Wednesday.

According to Obradovic, local pharmaceutical firms will receive EUR8 m for the purchase of raw materials, as part of the EU assistance to the Serbian health service for the procurement of medicines and reagents.

Obradovic announced that the pharmaceuticals of foreign manufacturers, among which the most important are cytostatics, would be as well put out to tender soon.

The aggregate value of the donation is EUR20 m and is mostly intended for the purchase of cytostatics, antidepressives, cardiovascular and diabetes drugs," Obradovic said.

He added that the drugs were expected to be delivered to health centers by the end of October or beginning of November.

The manager of the "Belgrade Pharmacy" firm, Ljubomir Pavicevic, said that the previous EU 20 m donation was divided into two tranches.

"The medicines from the humanitarian aid are not arriving anymore, if we exclude a small amount of insulin delivered to pharmacies through "Pharmacists worldwide", therefore the supply now entirely depends on local manufacturers," Pavicevic said.

The Serbian Ministry of Health assesses that the lack of the medicines from humanitarian aid will markedly burden the budget of the Serbian Health Insurance Institute.