Lucknow :

Senior IAS officer Rajan Shukla on Sunday reached a rare milestone donating blood a hundred times. Along with other blood donors, Shukla was determined to continue the practice.

He termed it unfair to quantify the blood donation process (i.e. number of times a person has donated blood), and said, “The importance of blood donation lies in the timeliness of the act, as it can not only save a life, but also inspire others to adopt the practice.”

Before addressing the group of blood donors, Shukla ensured he registered himself for the 100th donation. Shukla is project co-ordinator (DASP) & principal secretary co-ordination department, government of UP.

A number of blood donors were felicitated on the occasion, including Sant Kamal Kishore (of Saharanpur), Pradeep Ishrani (Varanasi), Swarn Singh Insha (Ghaziabad), Iqbal Singh (of Bareilly), Arlin Mylicent (Gorakhpur) and B L Sharda (of Kanpur).

Sant Kamal Kishore of Saharanpur, who has etched his name in the India Book of Records for donating blood 128 times, said, “If all matchsticks are used for lighting the lamp, it may be difficult to light the same lamp next time. But, if one candle is used to do the same job, it can be repeated a number of times. The same concept holds true for blood donation.”

1965 born Pradeep Ishrani, donated blood for the first time, when was 18 year-old (1984), and on Sunday, he completed 81st blood donation in Lucknow. Recalling one of his earliest blood donation experiences, Ishrani said, “I was moved by an advertisement in a local newspaper requesting for some units of blood. After contacting the party, I went to a pathology to donate blood.” He said he was shocked when relatives of the patients asked him how much they should pay him for the timely blood donation. “This incident changed my life, and I decided to donate blood voluntarily,” said Ishrani.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Arunav Sinha, TNN / June 15th, 2015