In 2018/19, just over seven per cent of people from ethnic minorities were registered – that rose to more than 11 per cent in 2023/24
The Mirror Change the Law for Life crusade has seen a rise in the number of donors from ethnic minorities.
Our campaign saw the new organ donor law passed by Parliament in 2019 and come into force as law in 2020. And there has been a welcome rise in registrations from ethnic minority groups on the NHS register over the past five years.
In 2018/19, just over seven per cent of people from ethnic minorities were registered. That rose to more than 11 per cent in 2023/24. A patient who waited a year for a transplant urged people from black, Asian and ethnic minorities to become organ donors. Kidney recipient Jitendra Desai, 73, had to spend three days a week undergoing dialysis until he received his transplant on September 5.
There are 8,000 people in the UK on the urgent transplant waiting list, about 2,300 of them are from ethnic minority backgrounds.
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Mr Desai, of Middlesbrough, said he was “lucky to get a match”. He added: “You only donate after you’re gone when you won’t need the organs.”
Blood and Transplant say there is a need for more people from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities to join the donor list.
In 2023/24, more than 1,200 patients from these backgrounds received life saving transplants. Eight out of 10 of the organs came from white donors.
Mr Desai, Indian-born and a native of Middlesbrough for 50 years, regrets not becoming a donor while he was well. He added: “I should have been on a donor list but in the black community people are scared and they shouldn’t be.”
He said his wife has now requested that her organs are donated when she dies, and he wishes that he had discussed it with other relatives and friends earlier.
Dr David Reaich, medical director at James Cook Hospital where Jitendra was treated, urges people to join the donor list. He added: “We have to reach out to BAME communities to ensure that if people are willing to receive a transplant they are willing to donate too.”
Our call to bring ‘opt out’ to England was successful thanks to the families of Max Johnson and Keira Ball.
Max, of Winsford, Cheshire, was nine years old when he received the heart of Keira, also nine, of Barnstaple, Devon, who died after a tragic car accident.
Despite his tender years, Max asked that she be included in the name for the new legislation. It was named Max and Keira’s Law in their honour following a five-year Mirror campaign.
‘Opt out’ means people no longer have to carry an organ donor card. Adults are considered as having agreed to donate their own organs when they die unless they opt out.
www.organdonation.nhs.uk