More than 20 times as many patients of South Asian heritage are waiting for an organ transplant as there were the number of deceased donors from the same background last year, NHS figures show.
NHS Blood and Transplant recorded 26 deceased donors of South Asian heritage between April 2025 and March 2026. There are 554 patients of the same heritage on the waiting list.
Organs are matched by blood and tissue type, so the closest match often comes from a donor of similar ancestry.
An NHS appeal, timed to coincide with South Asian Heritage Month from 18 July to 17 August, is calling for people to discuss organ donation and to confirm their decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register.
According to the figures, a record number of people – more than 8,500 – are currently on the UK transplant waiting list.
They also showed that adults of Asian heritage wait an average of 648 days for a kidney, against a UK average of 547.
For children of Asian heritage, the average wait is said to be 709 days, compared with 450 across the UK.
Bevi Sandhu, 55, from Hounslow, west London, agreed to donate her son’s organs after he died earlier this year.
Sunni Bansal, 34, who died suddenly in February, was non-verbal and had autism and a learning disability. His kidneys went to two men and his heart to a man age 30.
“Organ donation is something I think he would have wanted because he was so caring about other people,” his mother said.
“I didn’t want this to be the end. I thought the only way he can carry on living is maybe living through other people, and that would be by organ donation.
“I spoke to my family and I spoke to Sunni’s dad, and everyone agreed that it was a good idea. We’re Sikh, and in our community people hardly ever talk about organ donation.”
