Vivek Oberoi: Blood Donation should be a culture

   After aiding cancer affected children and saving almost 2 lakh patients over 12 years, Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi is now part of mega blood donation drive. Vivek, who is spearheading the cause and already launched it in 300 cities with 800 camps across India, wants to make blood donation a culture in the country.

   

     Says Vivek, “We have been fortunate enough to save 2 lakh patients over a period of 12 years but we’ve not been able to save many of them. It’s because we don’t have adequate blood supply. In big centers we still find it but it hasn’t reached smaller parts of the country. Despite having such huge population, we don’t have enough donors. And even if they are interested they are clueless where and how to go about it. Initially, I thought we should make a blood bank but then I figured out that they are not running on optimum capacity. The problem is not the lack of blood banks but we don’t have enough donors around. People don’t show their readiness. Blood donation should be a culture, habit like how voting was this time around. People have now started realizing its importance. They feel voting is a cool thing to do. Similarly, I want that to happen for blood donation. Especially the youth should take active participation. They can inspire each other and donate blood.”

    In fact, Vivek is aiming to create a Guinness World Record with this donation drive.

   “My idea was not do it for once. When I spoke to my partners on this project, we had few ideas that we should make it bigger every year. We thought of making a Guinness world record for India. We managed to get them and now they have sent their observers. So hopefully we should be able to crack a world record on September 6, 2014,” he adds.
 
   Besides tying up with numerous NGOs, government organizations and railway ministry, India’s PM Narendra Modi, with whom Vivek shares quite a good rapport, has also shown his keen interest in the project and lending his complete support.  

   “We’ve got huge support from Narendra Bhai as well. Before he left for Japan he sent us a very beautiful message. He gave best wishes to us and said inspire everybody. More than being a PM, he is a visionary and an inspiration to us,” says Vivek on a concluding note.