Mobilenews24x7 Bureau
The Samaritan who had saved 35,000 lives by blood donation awareness and still walks the 21,000 km mission.
What should it be called? From world’s first virtual blood donation platform helping donors Kiran Verma has turned a milestone figure and from a social worker to a life saver.
A Delhi-based social worker has embarked upon a two year long journey to complete a 21,000 km walk to raise awareness about blood donation across India.
Turning point
 “In December 2016, I gave blood at a hospital after receiving a distress call from a stranger. It wasn’t until I met the recipient’s family that I discovered the blood had been sold to a poor Chhattisgarh patient whose wife had paid Rs 1,500 for it” Verma told a media house.
Poverty accompanied by post monetization onslaught and then pandemic, health needs like blood had forced people to even work they never imagined of resorting to. Hard to believe a woman had to take to prostitution to get blood for her ailing husband.
That one moment was life-changing for Verma, who quit his job as a marketing professional the very next day and decided to work towards establishing open access to donated blood.
Similarly, in June 2017, another incident strengthened his resolve towards this cause. Verma donated blood to a young patient from Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur. Which further played a catalyst role for Verma when the patient’s father gave a call after a month to request Verma the pictures he had with the ailing young man. “they were his last photogtaphs’ the words moved Verma.
During Covid-19, Verma would receive several calls a day for blood. The overwhelming number of deaths and guilt of not finishing the walk weighed on him enough to make him try again.
Verma began his 21,000 km walk on World Blood Donor Day in 2021. So far, he has covered 12 states and 169 districts across India and Bangladesh.
Through his walk, he has been able to organise 75 blood donation camps, collecting 12,908 units of blood with help from over 3,000 individuals.
