Gennady Onishchenko was the chief sanitary doctor of the Russian Federation for a long time. His decisions often caused a lot of controversy, memes appeared on the Internet with his statements, which were considered stupid. But few people know about his adherence to principles and uncompromisingness, which made it possible to cleanse the country's market of low-quality and even dangerous products.
Gennady G. Onishchenko served as the chief sanitary doctor of the Russian Federation for almost 9 years. During this period, he introduced a huge number of rules and directives that made it possible to cleanse the Russian food market from dangerous and low-quality imported products, counterfeits. Many innovations have been introduced in medicine. Few people know that free vaccination against deadly diseases was significantly expanded thanks to Gennady Onishchenko.
Biography of Gennady G. Onishchenko
Gennady Grigorievich was born in a small village in the Kirghiz SSR. The future candidate of medical sciences and honored doctor of the Russian Federation was born in 1950, in the family of a Turkmen and a Ukrainian. Mom worked in medicine, and the boy from childhood knew who he would be - only a doctor.
Gennady Grigorievich received his higher medical education in his father's homeland - at the M. Gorky Medical Institute in the city of Donetsk. In 1973 he received a red diploma in hygiene, sanitation and epidemiology.
In addition to medicine, Gennady Onishchenko was fond of sports in his youth. This aspect of his biography is hardly known to those who create memes with him, considers his decisions and statements stupid. Gennady Grigorievich, in his youth, became a candidate for master of sports in weightlifting and carried this hobby throughout his life.
Career path of Gennady Onishchenko
After graduating from a medical university, Gennady Onishchenko, by assignment, came to work at the Ministry of Railways of the USSR. For 9 years, he has gone from a simple doctor-epidemiologist to the head of a department. In 1982, he was transferred to work in the capital, where he became the head of the sanitary and epidemiological station of the metro, and then - the head of the infectious and quarantine department of the USSR Ministry of Health.
This period of the formation of Onishchenko's career was the most difficult. He not only demanded the introduction of many innovations at the government level, but also personally visited the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, personally supervised the measures to eliminate the accident.
Another indisputable merit of Gennady Grigorievich Onishchenko is the suppression of the outbreak of cholera in Chechnya during the period of the first military campaign there. It was he who coordinated the actions of the team assembled on his initiative, his decisive actions made it possible to stop the spread of cholera, to minimize its victims. And even the militants' attack on his car did not make Onishchenko return home. He continued to work in a dangerous region, did everything that was planned.
Work in Rospotrebnadzor
In 2004, a new department of the federal level, Rospotrebnadzor, was formed, and Gennady G. Onishchenko was appointed its head. During his leadership (until 2013), Onishchenko held many large-scale events, the main goal of which was to restrict the import and sale of low-quality products and counterfeit products in the Russian Federation:
- a ban on the import of wines from Georgia and Moldova,
- identification of 500 names of low-quality dairy products from Belarus,
- adoption by the government on the initiative of Onishchenko of an article on the criminal punishment of legal entities that produce products of inadequate quality,
- the start of the anti-smoking campaign in 2008,
- the first practice of terminating all types of transport links with countries where there are infectious foci (swine flu in 2009),
- control over the circulation of genetically modified products,
- a ban on the supply of Lithuanian dairy products and confectionery products of a Ukrainian enterprise, the quality of which did not meet safety requirements.
In the "piggy bank" of Gennady Grigorievich's merits, there are a lot of correct and timely measures that not all representatives of the country's government liked. There were rumors that it was his adherence to principles that became the reason for his resignation in 2013. Official comments were: "The term of office has ended." After the resignation of Onishchenko, he took up the post of assistant to the country's prime minister.
Personal life of Gennady Onishchenko
With his future wife, Galina Anatolyevna Smirnova, Gennady Onishchenko met at advanced training courses. Since then, the couple has not parted. Three children were born in the marriage - two sons and a daughter Masha. All of them followed in the footsteps of their parents - their sons work in the field of dentistry, and their daughter became a clinical resident.
Even in old age, Gennady Grigorievich did not give up sports, he is engaged in hardening, introduced the whole family to a healthy lifestyle, regularly bathes in Epiphany.
Gennady Onishchenko, in his few personal interviews, emphasizes that the whole family follows his example - none of the children drinks or drinks alcohol, and the grandchildren are happy to support the sports hobbies of grandparents.
What is Gennady Onishchenko doing now
And now, many years after his resignation, Gennady Grigorievich is an active fighter for the health of the nation - he regularly takes part in congresses on the fight against infectious diseases at the Russian and international levels, makes proposals for improving epidemiological and medical measures.
Gennady Onishchenko made a number of proposals for the prevention of HIV and AIDS, raised the issue of vaccination against a number of diseases and achieved the adoption of appropriate measures at the level of the Russian government.
