This World Transplant Nurses Day (20 April), Britain’s biggest solid organ transplant centre is appealing for more people from the Asian population to donate organs.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) carries out hundreds of transplants every year, but the demand for transplant organs, particularly kidneys, far outstrips the supply in the UK.

People from Asian backgrounds are more than three times more likely to need a kidney transplant than the general population because of the higher incidence of diabetes and high blood pressure, both of which can lead to kidney failure.

Surinder Jandu, the hospital’s renal transplant recipient co-ordinator, says the diverse population of Birmingham means the hospital is determined to promote organ donation within the Asian community: “Birmingham is a very culturally diverse community with a high percentage of the population from South Asia. More and more individuals from this ethnic group are presenting with end stage renal failure.

“The renal replacement therapy of choice would be transplantation, if suitable, as the long term benefits to the individuals would be economically, socially and psychologically better."

However, Asian patients who present with end-stage renal failure face an uncertain future because of differences in disease profile, blood groups and difficulties in organ matching.

From 2003 to March 2008 529 kidney transplants took place in Birmingham. Of these, 386 were to the white population and only 109 to the Asian population.

Surinder explains that the main reason for this difference is Asians’ blood groups and tissue typing are often rarer and therefore make matching potential kidneys difficult.

“In the short-term there needs to be a greater number of donors coming forward from the Asian communities to increase the pool of suitable organs. Their chance of a successfully receiving a transplant is greater, if they get an organ from the same ethnic group.”

In Birmingham today, 187 Asian patients are waiting for a kidney transplant but only 2,248 Asians are on the national Organ Donation Register.

Surinder is one of several hundred nurses who work in a huge range of different disciplines as part of QEHB’s transplant programme.

World Transplant Nurses Day is held to help raise awareness of the unique contributions these nurses make to the lives of the people they work with.

The day offers patients and doctors alike the opportunity to express their appreciation for transplant nurses in numerous ways and recognises the skill and commitment of transplant nurses around the world.