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# In 1988 an ordinary doctor at a children's polyclinic in Elista detected HIV among his patients, despite the distrust of senior colleagues, a shortage of information and the conditions of a provincial hospital
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/v-1988-godu-prostoi-vrach-detskoi-polikliniki-elisty-vyiavil-vich-sredi-svoikh-patsientov-nesmotria-na-nedoverie-starshikh-kolleg-nekhvatku-svedenii-i-usloviia-provintsialnoi-bolnitsy/
- Published: 2022-05-06T17:32:16.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:38:52.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Coming Up, Cinema, Science, Society

In 1988 an ordinary doctor at a children's polyclinic in Elista detected HIV among his patients, despite the distrust of senior colleagues, a shortage of information and the conditions of a provincial hospital. The high-profile investigation drew the eyes of the whole country and brought about colossal shifts across the entire health service. Incidentally, one of the figures in those events was Gennady Onishchenko, familiar to us as Russia's chief sanitary doctor, then an employee of the USSR Ministry of Health.

The dramatic and tense investigation of the first large outbreak of HIV in the Soviet Union forms the basis of Kinopoisk's new series “[Patient Zero](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNjKk5mYd%5FQ&ref=theparnassian.com)”. At the centre of the plot are a young doctor, Kirsan Ayushev, played by Askar Ilyasov, and Dmitry Goncharov, an epidemiologist specialising in a little-known disease, played by Nikita Efremov. The cinematographer is Sergei Trofimov, who in his day shot “Night Watch”, and one of the leading roles is played by Yevgeny Stychkin. The first episode of “Patient Zero” will be released on Kinopoisk on 19 May.