Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (JD)
Udupi, Jan 29: A Delhi based social worker is on a mission to create awareness on blood donation by walking 21,000 km. Kiran Verma, with an ambition of creating awareness, started his journey from Trivandrum on December 28, 2021.
He has already covered 700 km of his journey. This walk is going to be the longest blood awareness campaign ever by an individual. Kiran has decided to walk for more than two years to complete this awareness drive.
Kiran says that nobody should die waiting for blood in India after December 31, 2025. Kiran has covered cities of Trivandrum, Kollam, Alappuzha, Ernakulum, Trissur, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Mahe, Kannur, Kasargod and Mangaluru districts covering more than 700 km. He hosts blood donation camps in the cities he visits. He will be visiting few cities in Tamil Nadu next.
It was a painful incident which made Kiran to take up blood donation awareness drive. It was in December 2016 when Kiran received a phone call from Raipur, Chhattisgarh. The caller asked Kiran to donate blood for a poor family. Kiran goes to the hospital and donates blood. But he learns a hard fact that the caller who had asked to donate blood had received Rs 1,500 from the poor family for arranging the blood. He came to know later that the lady who paid for his blood got into prostitution to pay the medical bills.
It was hard to digest for him and the same day he left his job and took this as his goal that ‘nobody should die due to lack of blood by 2025 in India’.
Kiran Verma says, “Due to rising COVID cases, voluntary blood donation in India is going significantly down since the last 2 years. This walk is to encourage people even in this tough time to go out and donate blood so that blood banks and hospitals do not run out of blood. Everyday more than 12,000 people fail to get blood in India, due to which more than 3 million people died waiting for blood. If 5 million youth start donating blood, there will be not even a single death due to non-availability of blood in India.”
Kiran has initiated ‘Simply Blood’, a virtual blood donation platform, connecting blood donors and blood seekers in real time. It was launched on January 29, 2017 and till date has saved more than 35,000 potential lives through blood donation. He is also instrumental in initiating ‘Change With One Meal’ project serving in Delhi which is providing meals for just Rs 10.