UK Drive To Get British Sikhs On Organ Donor List

LONDON – A new drive hasbeen launched to overcome theextreme shortage of BritishSikhs on theorgan donationlist of theUK.Members ofthe Asiancommunityare more likelyto need atransplant butwait longerthan the general population inBritain for a match.According to official figures,only around two per cent oforgan donors each year areAsian but the community makesup nearly a fifth of those needinga transplant.The National Health Service(NHS) has kicked off a targetedcampaign across the country,starting with the Sikh community,to urge them to join itsOrgan Donor Register.A series of TV programmestitled “Organ Donation Let’sMake a Difference” will air fromnext week in collaboration withSikh community channel SangatTV and Sandwell and WestBirmingham Hospitals NHSTrust’s organ donation committee.”We believe organ donationfits with the Sikh faith and thatthere is a real need in this communityfor more donors. Ifmore people register, more livescan be saved and members ofthe community might not facewaiting longer than others whenthey need a transplant,” saidJohn Bleasdale, clinical lead fororgan donation at the NHSTrust.The TV shows, in a mix ofPunjabi and English, feature aman, Satnam Kang, who is waitingfor a kidney transplant andtalks about the difficulties ofbeing on dialysis atBirmingham’s Queen ElizabethHospital.The same hospital was recentlyin the news when Pakistaniteenage rights campaignerMalala Yousafzai underwentmarathon life-saving surgeriesthere after being shot in thehead by a Taliban fighter.Kang, 53, who lives inBirmingham, has needed atransplant since 2006. “I urgepeople to join the Organ DonorRegister, you could give somebodytheir life back. And it isnot just that person you wouldbe helping, but his family andfriends too.”Local organ recipients AnjuKaur, Pritpal Singh Sangheraand Jaswinder Dhaliwal talkabout their lives before theirtransplants and how they havebeen transformed since theyreceived a new kidney.Manjinder Kaur Jagdev, fromNorwich, explains her family’sdecision to donate her mother’sorgans and the comfort thisbrought them.Clinicians from Birmingham’sCity Hospital and medics, plusexperts in organ donationand the Asiancommunity, also featurein the shows. JogaSingh, Sikh chaplain atSandwell and WestBirmingham HospitalsNHS Trust, said: “Theaim of the filming wasnot only to exploreSikh perspectivestowards organ donation, butalso to harness the potential ofthe Sikh community to addressthis important social issue.