'After you're gone you won't need the organs'

Jitendra Desai felt "lucky" to get a kidney transplant after waiting just a year

A patient who waited a year for a transplant has urged people from black, Asian and ethnic minorities to sign up to become organ donors.

Kidney recipient Jitendra Desai, 73, of Middlesbrough, had to spend three days a week undergoing dialysis at James Cook Hospital until he received his transplant on 5 September.

There are 8,000 people in the UK on the active transplant waiting list and about 2,300 of them are from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Mr Desai said he was "lucky to get a match" and was told his wait could have been a lot longer, adding: "You only donate after you're gone when you won't need the organs."

A report by NHS Blood and Transplant said there was 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 lifesaving transplants and 80% of the organs came from white donors.

Mr Desai, who was born in India but has lived in Middlesbrough for 50 years, said he "regrets" not becoming a donor while he was well.

"I should have been on a donor list but I think in my community and in the black community people are scared and they shouldn't be."

Dr David Reaich believes that if you could one day receive a transplant you should join the donor list

There has been a rise in the number of opt-in registrations from ethnic minority groups on the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR) over the past five years.

In 2018/19, just over 7% of people from ethnic minorities were registered, but that rose to more than 11% in 2023/24.

Dr David Reaich, who is medical director at James Cook Hospital and a consultant nephrologist, said he hoped the figure would rise further.

"There is work to do, 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," Dr Reaich said.

Mr Desai said he had made it his mission to "openly ask" everyone he meets to sign up.

"My wife is donating everything when she passes and I tell everyone from all backgrounds to do the same, it's saved me - my kidney was working in one day."