Key Points
This year, Verma, with a placard on hand that urges people to donate blood, is on his way to Siliguri, West Bengals picturesque gem nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas, from Malda...
His aim is to walk 21,000 kilometres to create more awareness about blood donation..
In 2018 too, Verma travelled 16,000 km across India, covering more than 6,000 km on foot, to get people to donate blood.. India needs 15 million units of blood annually, according to 2017 government data..
According to Verma, Simply Blood, a virtual blood donation platform that connects blood donors and seekers real time without charging anyone, was launched on January 29, 2017, and it has saved more than 35,000 potential lives through blood donation so far...
Till now, I have walked more than 13,400 km across 176 districts, 12 states and UTs, including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Dadra Nagar and Daman and Diu, Gujarat, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal in 17 months, he said.. Verma added that the only time he took a break from walking, for almost a month, was to visit countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh, where he was invited to talk about his efforts to promote blood donation...
