A CALL has gone out for more organ donors as 53 people living in the Bradford district are waiting for transplants.

Last year 48 people from our area had a lifesaving transplant thanks to the organ donor register but over the past five years 17 people have died before they could be helped.

Despite 138,277 people across Bradford having signed up to the NHS donor register, more are still needed, says Sally Johnson who is NHS Blood and Transplant Director of Organ Donation and Transplantation.

A new NHS Christmas appeal started this week urging people from Bradford and beyond to take time out this Christmas to go online and register as a donor.

There are 199 people in West Yorkshire whose lives are in limbo on the transplant waiting list despite 717,836 potential singed-up donors in the same area.

In the past five years 73 people have died waiting for that gift of life.

Ms Johnson said: “It’s a terrible shame that so many people who want to save lives through organ donation have not taken the next, simple step to register that decision.

“We all have busy lives, yet most of us would admit that we still find ourselves whiling time away and delaying doing important things.

“Signing up to the NHS Organ Donor Register is one thing we know people often just haven’t got around to doing.

“This Christmas, we are asking everyone who supports organ donation to take just a few minutes of their online time to show that support by joining the NHS Organ Donor Register.”

According to the service, while 81 per cent of people they recently surveyed say they support organ donation, only around a third of people in the UK have joined the register.”

With no age limit to joining the register, there is a particular need for more black and Asian organ donors because people from those communities have a higher incidence of conditions such as diabetes and certain forms of hepatitis which makes them more likely to need a transplant.

“Yet people from these communities are less likely to agree to organ donation. While some may be able to receive an organ from a white donor, for many others the best, or only, match would be from someone from the same ethnic background,” added Ms Johnson.

To join the NHS Organ Donor Register go to organdonation.nhs.uk

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