On 23 February 2024, His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch kyr Porfirije presented the Order of Saint Sava to Prof. Dr. Dragoš Stojanović, director of Clinical Hospital Center Zemun, at a ceremony at this distinguished medical institution, which celebrated 240 years of service.

– I have the exceptional blessing and honor to present to you the highest decoration of our holy Church, and through you, to all who work in this hospital, but also to all those who have worked and invested their efforts for the well-being of all those who have come to this medical institution, now for 240 years. We awarded this decoration by the decision of the Holy Synod primarily because this place is a sacred place for us, primarily because all those who have worked here in the past 240 years or work here today have seen every person as a neighbor, regardless of their nationality, religion, sex, or age. Therefore, this place is par excellence where the Gospel of Christ is fulfilled and where those who have used all their knowledge and skills for the healing of souls and bodies work for two and a half centuries, achieving precisely what the well-known Latin phrase means in its full sense, which has been used among us for decades only in one part of it: ...a healthy mind in a healthy body. However, Juvenal uttered a sentence that fully reads: Pray for a healthy mind in a healthy body. Therefore, doctors and medical staff fulfill all aspects of this saying because they take care of the well-being, both external and internal. May God grant goodwill and, of course, good health to all those who strive and heal here, so that with their knowledge and skills they can, besides their cross – everyone has their own cross – also carry the cross of those in need and those who are in trouble and come here, and in this way fulfill the image of Christ. Let them follow Him who calls every person first to sacrifice for others. Congratulations once again. May God's blessings come upon all of you and all the people of the world – said Patriarch Porfirije.

The decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops, read by Protopresbyter Đorđe Stojisavljević, Acting Head of the Office of the Serbian Patriarch, states that the highest decoration of the Serbian Orthodox Church is awarded to the Clinical Hospital Center Zemun on the occasion of its 240 years of existence, as recognition of deeds of Christian love and devoted work in the development of health, education, and science.

The ceremony was attended by the highest representatives of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the University of Belgrade, and the City of Belgrade.

The Zemun Hospital was founded in 1784 and is the oldest hospital in Serbia. The hospital acquired a new X-ray machine as early as 1901, just a year after the Nobel Prize was awarded for the discovery of X-rays. Over the past two and a half centuries, this medical institution has been a driver of the development of medical science in our country and was the place where the most significant individuals in Serbian medicine have treated patients. Since 31 December 1983, the hospital has been operating under the name Clinical Hospital Center Zemun.