SHILLONG: A Good Samaritan will walk 15,000 km to encourage blood donation across India, Nepal and Bhutan.
Kiran Verma, founder of the Simply Blood, the world’s first virtual blood donation platform and first social media platform for the purpose, reached Shillong on Monday and met officials of Doordarshan and Press Information Bureau.
Verma was keen to meet the Chief Minister and other officials of the health department but he could not do so.
Speaking to media persons, Verma said he started his journey on January 26 from Lal Chowk, Srinagar and till now he has travelled more than 11,500 km out of which he has walked more than 3,500 km on foot while the rest of the distance was covered using different means of transportation till Hyderabad in the last four months.
“I have spread my message among more than 7,00,000 people across Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya and other states so far by sharing my vision with students in colleges, universities, public places like malls, restaurants, railway stations, bus stands,” he said.
Reacting to a query about his initiative, he said that every day, more than 12,000 people die in India due to lack of blood and his mission is to encourage at least 10 people in every kilometer to take a pledge to donate blood once in their life.
“If this happens, this 15,000 km journey is going to save at least 150,000 potential lives through blood donation,” he said.
According to Verma, in the last one year, 2,000 lives have been saved in 11 countries through Simply Blood app. The app does not charge from either the donor or seeker. He said losing his mother to cancer when he was seven years old made him realise the importance of life. Verma has donated blood 40 times.
