As part of World Blood Donation Day celebration and promoting need of voluntary blood donation, Aakash Healthcare Super Speciality Hospital, Dwarka organised a Walkathon. The 5km walk was flagged off at 6:30am from Aakash Healthcare Super Speciality Hospital, Dwarka, the participants raised slogans and created awareness relating to the importance of voluntary blood donation in different sectors near the hospital.

The walkathon witnessed more than 350 participants from hospital staff, local NGOs, health groups and a cyclist group. The event was flagged off by Guest of Honours- Dr Mausumi Swami, Director- SBTC & Head Department of Transfusion Medicine, DDU Hospital, AK Nasa, Head of Office/Controlling Authority/Licensing Authority/Deputy Drug Controller and Dr Praveen Kumar, Additional Project Director, DSACS.

Aakash Healthcare Super Speciality Hospital, Dwarka organized the walk with an aim to educate and sensitize the residents about the urgent need for voluntary blood donation, and providing safe blood for all. This year’s World Blood Donation Day’s theme, ‘Safe Blood For All’ is aimed to thank voluntary, unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood and also to raise awareness of the need for regular blood donations to ensure that all individuals and communities have access to affordable and timely supplies of safe and quality-assured blood and blood products, as an integral part of universal health coverage and a key component of effective health systems.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Aashish Chaudhry, Manging Director and Orthopaedic Surgeon, Aakash Healthcare Super Speciality Hospital, said, “We are happy to see an overwhelming response from the participants. The World Blood Donation Day walk evoked an enthusiastic response, with a large number of girls, women and youth taking part, giving an indication that people are enthusiastic about voluntary blood donation and saving lives. We hope the Walkathon will encourage people to continue walking for a healthier future. A special thanks to our Guest of Honors who supported and made this possible for us.”

India fell short of 1.9 million units of blood in 2016-17, which is equivalent to 60 tankers. It could have helped in 320,000 heart surgeries or 49,000 organ transplants, reveals official data. Blood donation is a rising need in the country and people are not aware that not only blood donation saves life of others but can help the donors in a great way as regular blood donation cuts down one’s risk of cholesterol, cardiac issues and overload of iron in the body. And also helps the donors with regular blood screening and purification of blood.