Blood brother: the Kashmiri man who is India’s biggest donor

The blood man' of conflict-racked Kashmir has donated 174 pints of blood since 1980 but feels crushed' by his poverty

Shabir Hussain Khan was taking an afternoon nap when he heard a commotion outside his house. A friend had been injured in a football match and had lost a lot of blood. Khan, who did not have any transport, rushed to the hospital by foot to donate some. It was 4 July 1980. Yesterday the man known locally as the blood man of Kashmir" donated his 174th pint of his blood to strangers at the public hospital close to his Srinagar home.

Blood is not something you can buy in the market," says Khan, who has an O-negative blood group. In those days blood donation was not common, nor were blood banks. The way blood is available readily now, it was not like that before. Also there was no connectivity at that time. We only had radios and two or three landline phones in the entire locality."