You can need a medicine at any hour — late in the evening, in the middle of the night, or on a public holiday when almost everything is closed. That is why Croatian towns run a system of on-duty pharmacies: pharmacies that stay open even after the regular hours of every other pharmacy have long passed. This article explains who decides which pharmacy is on duty, how the schedule changes, and how to find a pharmacy that is open right now in just a few seconds.
This is especially useful if you are visiting Croatia, where opening hours and the holiday calendar may differ from what you are used to at home.
What an on-duty pharmacy is
An on-duty pharmacy is a pharmacy assigned, for a given period, to operate outside the usual hours of the other pharmacies in its town or area. While most pharmacies are closed in the evening and at weekends, the on-duty pharmacy stays open so that patients can reach a medicine at any time.
In practice there are two levels of availability:
- Round-the-clock duty — the pharmacy operates continuously, including through the night. These are most common in larger cities.
- Extended hours (standby) — the pharmacy is open longer than usual, for example late into the evening or at weekends, but not necessarily all night. In smaller places this is the more common arrangement.
The distinction matters: in a small town, an "on-duty" pharmacy does not necessarily mean someone is working at three in the morning — it may simply mean at least one pharmacy is open longer than the rest.
Who sets the duty schedule
No single pharmacy decides this on its own. The schedule is arranged by local institutions:
- County and municipal pharmacy chambers and pharmacy organisations share the duty obligation among the pharmacies in their area, so that the burden of night and holiday work does not fall on just one of them.
- Towns and counties take part in the organisation, because this is a public health service that must be evenly available to residents.
As a result, the system differs from town to town. In Zagreb and other large cities, several pharmacies operate around the clock every day. In smaller towns, the duty obligation usually rotates — a different pharmacy is on duty from week to week or month to month, following a schedule agreed in advance.
When pharmacies stay open at night, on weekends and on holidays
The need for an on-duty pharmacy is greatest precisely when the others are closed:
- On weekday evenings, after the regular pharmacies have shut.
- At weekends, especially on Sundays, when many pharmacies do not open at all.
- On public holidays, when the great majority of pharmacies are closed and the on-duty pharmacy covers the whole area.
Holidays are exactly when people most often find themselves without a medicine they need. The holiday duty schedule is set in advance, but it can differ from the usual weekly pattern — a pharmacy that is not normally on duty that day of the week may be the one assigned to the holiday.
Why the schedule keeps changing
The biggest source of confusion is that the schedule is not fixed. The pharmacy that was on duty last weekend may not be next weekend. The reasons are simple:
- the obligation rotates fairly among pharmacies,
- hours are adjusted for public holidays and staff annual leave,
- the network of pharmacies changes over time (new ones open, some change hours).
So a detail you memorised a month ago may be wrong today. The phone number taped to the window of a closed pharmacy often points to whichever pharmacy is on duty at the moment — but that, too, changes.
How to find a pharmacy that is open now
When you need a medicine immediately, you do not want to search several different sources. A few reliable options:
- An online service that shows the current duty pharmacy — the fastest way to see, in one place, which pharmacy is open right now, with no phoning or guessing.
- The notice on the pharmacy door or window — almost every pharmacy posts who is currently on duty in a visible spot.
- A phone enquiry — the county pharmacy chamber or the pharmacy itself can confirm the current schedule.
- Emergency services — in a genuine medical emergency call 194 (emergency medical service) or 112 (the single European emergency number); they are not a substitute for a pharmacy, but they are the right first step when health or life is at risk.
Where dezurna.net comes in
Because the schedule changes from week to week, it is hard to track by hand. dezurna.net gathers data from public sources and answers, in one place, a single question — which pharmacy is open right now in your town. Instead of searching several pages or calling numbers off closed windows, one glance is enough. The centuries-old idea of an always-available pharmacy thus takes on a modern, digital form.