A health minister has urged more members of Bradford's Asian community to become organ donors to avert a future crisis.

More than half of the people in the city awaiting life-saving organ transplants are from ethnic communities and the situation is worsening.

The figures were revealed at the launch of a national initiative to encourage organ donation among ethnic minorities.

It is predicted that within the next few years more than half of the people in Bradford on kidney dialysis will be black or Asian.

Opening a conference in Bradford yesterday, Lord Hunt, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health, said: "Ethnic groups need to be particularly concerned.

"National figures for 1997 to 1999 show that 11 per cent of transplants were performed on patients from black or Asian communities, and 21 per cent of people waiting for kidney transplants came from black and Asian backgrounds.

"I believe a key area of development to support these communities is to help them develop their knowledge and understanding of how lifestyle can affect their health. We are trying to increase awareness within these groups and give them as much information so they can spot the early signs of disease to prevent them from going on to possibly having organ failure."

Doctors, religious and community leaders met in the city for the Organ Donation and Transplantation, the Multi-faith Perspective one-day conference organised by the Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust.

Dr Robin Jeffrey, consultant nephrologist from Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust, said the waiting lists for transplants have grown at a rate of about five per cent every year for the last decade.

But he said that kidney failure was three to five times more prevalent in Indo-Asian communities and this was not reflected in the number of donations within the same ethnic group. He said one of the ways to increase the number of donations would be to reverse the donor card scheme to one of opting out.

"Results of transplants are improving but it's the lack of organs available to carry out life-saving treatment that we're concerned about," he said.

Dr Jeffrey added that Britain relies on cadaveric transplantations - transplants from dead bodies - but the reduction of deaths caused by head injuries as a result of seatbelt legislation, has also affected figures.

Lord Hunt added that between 1997 and 1999, two and-a-half per cent of donated organs came from black and Asian people.

Donors and recipients of transplants also spoke to the 250 delegates about their experiences.

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