Kathmandu, October 21:

Moved by a report titled ‘Blood shortage hits Bhaktapur’, which was published in The Himalayan Times on October 19, 30 students of the Bachelor in Fine Arts at the Kathmandu University’s Centre for Art and Design donated blood at the Bhaktapur branch of the Nepal Red Cross Society yesterday.

“Our students donated blood after reading the news about the shortage of blood in Bhaktapur in The Himalayan Times,” Sujan Chitrakar, lecturer and coordinator of the centre, said.

“We wanted to contribute to the extent we could,” said Devendra ‘Thumkeli’, a third-year student of the college. Terming their move a “beginning”, Thumkeli hoped many more people will turn up to donate blood.

Hit hard by blood shortage, blood banks in the valley have been appealing to the people to donate blood.

The Central Blood Transfusion Service (CBTS) of the Nepal Red Cross Society says long vacation in educational institutions is to blame for the shortage of blood in the valley.