Dr. Suniti Solomon_HIV/AIDS Crusader passed away

At a time HIV was spreading like a wildfire across the world, India had a hundred thousand long-haul truck drivers, more than two million prostitutes, close to three thousand brothels, and tens of millions of seasonal workers who moved in and out of the cities. Hundreds of millions of people lived without running water, let alone the costly drugs necessary for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. One woman came out to fight against the growing epidemic, and she was none other than Dr. Suniti Solomon – the HIV/AIDS crusader.

She was a professor of microbiology at the Madras Medical College when she and her colleagues documented the first evidence of the HIV infection in India in 1986 when blood samples of six commercial sex workers tested positive. The samples were first sent to Christian Medical College in Vellore and later to a facility in the USA, where the result was confirmed. The first finding of the deadly virus, in Tamil Nadu, was even read out in the state legislative assembly. It is reported that Dr Solomon was touched by the stories of those six women, especially that of a 13-year-old girl, who was kidnapped and forced into the sex trade. This was a turning point in Solomon’s life. Since then, her life revolved around people living with HIV/AIDS. When many physicians were reluctant, to deal with HIV, she founded the first voluntary HIV testing and counselling centre, Y R Gaitonde Center for AIDS Research and Education (YRG CARE), in Chennai, despite resistance from friends and family.

“This was the early 1990s, when you couldn’t really talk about things like safe sex and condoms in public meetings to a mixed audience. But she did. She really was ahead of her time,” Dr. Sreedhar said. “Dr. Solomon was an affectionate teacher and an inspiring colleague. She gave generously of her time and experience. Her work helped sh. Tamil Nadu’s response to HIV prevention and care, particularly through the early years of the epidemic,”

She used to recall an unforgettable case in which she treated a pregnant woman tested positive in 1992, who delivered a baby who also tested positive, although he later died at the age of 17.

It was not merely for her achievements that make her stand out from the crowd, but for her demeanour, love and care. A few incidents to be named:

She was also known as the HIV matchmaker as she helped arrange marriages for people afflicted with the disease. In fact, a movie titled Match +: A Story About Love in the Time of HIV was made on the subject a few years ago.

According to Solomon, the loneliness and isolation that HIV-positive patients faced was far more destructive than the virus. She was a big proponent of animal-assisted therapy. She would always bring her golden retriever, Nala, and would encourage patients to interact with it, because animals do not discriminate, unlike human beings.

Once she told The New Yorker reporter Michael Specter, “One day, this man came to see me,” Solomon continued. “A nice man, caring. He is a landlord and owns acres and acres. His only son is positive. Of course, people came to him and sought to arrange a marriage, and he kept telling everyone, ‘No, no, my son has to study and isn’t ready for marriage.’ And finally his own sister brought her daughter, which in south India is very common. She said, ‘You can’t do that, my brother, you have to marry your son to my daughter. It’s only right.’ So he told her the truth: ‘My son has H.I.V., and I don’t want your daughter to get sick.’ He saw the change in his sister’s face, and she walked away without a word. His wife, who had been hiding behind the door, heard what he said, and she told their son. The mother and child dressed in their best clothes and went out and bought poison powder in bulk. They drank it together and got into the car. Then the son drove as fast as he could into a big tree and killed them both. After that, the father came to me his life was ruined. He said, ‘All I have done is try to save my niece from getting H.I.V., and now I have lost everything.’

“It was a very, very hard moment for me. I just left the office and went home. I have a dog, and I tell him things I would never say to a human being. So through my tears I told him all about the man who tried to save his niece.”

Dr Suniti Solomon passed away at the age of 76 and was suffering from liver cancer.  

Some of the major awards and recognitions conferred to her:

• She was awarded a DMS (Honoris Cusa) by the Brown University, USA
• The Ministry of Science and Technology conferred the ‘National Women Bio-scientist Award’ on her, In 2001, she was given a similar award for her pioneering work on HIV/AIDS by the state run medical varsity.
• Lifetime Achievement Award for Service on HIV/AIDS by the state-run Dr MGR Medical University
• Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society
• Mother Teresa Memorial Award for education and humanitarian services
• She was awarded on several other occasions too by Tamil Nadu, like in 2005 for her work on HIV.

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