An urgent call has been made for more people to join the NHS Organ Donor Register after figures reveal that 18 Bradford patients have died in the past four years while waiting for a transplant.

There are 111 people in the district on the waiting list with the majority of those waiting for a kidney or a liver.

Specialists are particularly urging those from black and ethnic minorities (BME) to sign up to try to help those on the waiting list of which 73 cases are active and 38 are temporarily removed from the list because they are too ill to undergo the operation.

Ninety-six of those 111 require a kidney transplant.

Last year in Bradford six donors saved 11 lives with six kidneys, two livers, two lungs and one pancreas transplanted.

Bradford has 121,000 people on the UK Organ Donor Register out of an estimated population of 522,452, but more BME people are needed because those from the same background can make for more successful transplants.

Gordon Crowe, team manager, at the Yorkshire Organ Donation Services Team, who helps bereaved families make the decision on whether to donate their loved one’s organs, said that some people were concerned that being on the register went against their religion or faith.

“It is quite difficult because we do see familes who say it is against their religion,” he said.

“But actually Islamic faith leaders have said it’s a good thing to do so it is good from the religious perspective to have the backing from religious leaders.

“We require BME donors, especially kidneys because the best possible matches for BME patients are from their own ethnic background.

“Bradford has a high population of BME patients who require transpants, however, we have very few donors from BME backgrounds.

“What we find is that although it is becoming more and more talked about something we would like to get people in all communities to talk about organ donation and the benefits of it and why it is important to donate.

“For those patients who have already died or are going to die, nothing will change the outcome, but they can save other people’s lives and it’s a personal choice and a choice that everybody has to make.

“I urge people to talk about their life and if they tell their family they are on the register at least their family know their wishes.

“If people are on the register and die, the family can override their wishes, but we try and encourage family not to do this.

“This is where the skill of specialist nurses comes in.”

The figures have been revealed only days after the Telegraph & Argus reported that Bradford mother-of-four, Lisa Brown, had to pay £27,000 for a lung operation to ease her emphysema and still does not know if she is classed as ill enough for a lung transplant that she fears she could die waiting for.

Three people die each day in the UK waiting for an organ with 10,00 people nationally needing a transplant.

There were 376 transplants in Bradford from 2009/10 to the current date, including 84 kidney transplants, less than 15 lung operations and 30 liver transplants.

There are an estimated 100 people waiting for a heart and 100 for lungs nationally with thousands waiting for a liver.

Mr Crowe added: “Whoever you go and see, young or old, they have a father, mother, brother, sister, or children.

“We help them make the right decision for them and even if one person donated two kidneys it saves two lives.

“One donor can save nine lives.”